Swedish Unemployment insurance to be compulsory

The Local reports:

Every worker in Sweden will soon be obliged to join an unemployment insurance scheme, according to government proposals.

The government has already announced plans to increase the amount that people have to pay in contributions to the so-called A-kassa funds, which manage unemployment benefits. These funds administer unemployment benefit, but the money they pay out is mostly provided by central government funds.


The governing centre-right Alliance has said it wants to change this, and make the funds more self-financing. While taxes including income tax will be cut, insurance charges will rise. The government will also make people legally obliged to join the insurance schemes, which are currently voluntary.

“We are going to talk to the unions and employers’ organizations about the possiblity of making contributions to unemployment benefit funds compulsory,” said Mårten Wennberg, spokesman for labour market minister Sven-Otto Littorin, to The Local.

Great moments in socialism.