The growth of employment opportunities in Sweden in the last year has exceeded all expectations. According to a recent forecast from Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish governmental employment agency) a total of 149,000 new jobs will be created in Sweden during 2017 and 2018, which is 50% higher than the estimates made in 2016 for the same two years.
One important reason for this increase is that a larger percentage of Sweden’s substantial expat and refugee population has managed to get a better foothold in the labor market. Of the new jobs, eight out of ten currently go to individuals born outside Sweden, which will help lessen the large differences in the employment rate between native Swedes and immigrants.
The largest number of vacancies has been seen in the educational sector, where there is an acute need of qualified personnel at both public and private educational institutions. These recruitment needs are the results of a long period of relative disinterest for the teaching profession among Swedish university students, in combination with the raised educational standards in Swedish schools brought about by the introduction of a mandatory teaching license in 2013. A higher rate of job growth has also been seen in the sectors of healthcare and construction, and there has also arisen a large number of vacancies with for example the professions of chef and bus driver among others.
