Fewer or More Subsidized Jobs?

Regeringsf�rklaringen 13 september 2005

I have just attended the ceremonies in connection with the official opening of the parliament in Sweden, and listened to the policy statement for the coming year by the Prime Minister.

It was a somewhat odd event, since obviously the governing Social Democrats had failed to reach full agreement with their parliamentary base in the Left Party and the Green Party, which is highly unusual.

Election is approaching in a years time, and the Prime Minister put great stress on increasing employment in the economy. The unemployment situation is generally seen as the biggest of the failures of the present government. It is, of course, much higher than what is reflected in the official figures.

The PM read a long list of thousands of new jobs that will be created with an avalanche of different schemes of old and new subsidies.

I have to confess that I would have felt better if the Prime Minister had been able to say that we are now drastically cutting back on all the different schemes for subsidized jobs, since real jobs are now created by real growth in the real economy.

The large expansion of all these subsidized jobs is really a sign of failure.

A good economy requires fewer - not more - subsidized jobs.