The Fall and Revival of the Swedish Welfare Model: Spatial Implications

Abstract

The most rapid expansion of the welfare state in Sweden took place between 1960 and 1985. In the mid 1980s, public services provided about one third of all jobs in most labor markets; in some regions as much as 45 per cent. Standardized formal education in Sweden is aimed specifically at providing well-educated persons for the public sector which results in very little labor mobility between the public and private arenas. More than two thirds of those with higher education work in the public sector. Consequently, in most regions, there has been little room for the growth of private personal services and the private sector is, as a whole, considered to be under-supplied with highly-educated people. In addition, the relatively flat wage structure embedded in the Swedish welfare model provides little incentive for movement between public and private sectors. This is one way that the welfare state, which explicitly and actively promotes regional equality, has also generated certain regional problems. Its role in this sense has largely been implicit, indirect and not widely recognized.

“Everyone should have the right to childcare, schooling, healthcare and eldercare. That is the way we want it in Sweden. The turnout in this year’s election clearly shows that we are willing to fight for the protection of the Swedish model. The general welfare system should be developed, not diminished.” (Faxservice of Dagens Nyheter, October 9, 1994.)

Ingvar Carlsson, Prime Minister of Sweden, October 9, 1994