Ardalan Shekarabi Criticizes Government's Handling of Unemployment, Calls for Labor Minister's Dismissal

Ardalan Shekarabi, the economic-political spokesperson for the Social Democrats, has delivered a scathing critique of the Swedish government's management of the unemployment crisis. During a press conference, he highlighted that approximately 500,000 people are unemployed in Sweden, with 100,000 job losses occurring since the current government took office.

Shekarabi emphasized what he described as a severe lack of crisis awareness within the Ministry of Employment, stating, "I have never seen such passivity as we see in this situation." He called for the dismissal of Labor Market Minister Johan Britz, noting that even the Sweden Democrats agree that a replacement is necessary.

The unemployment rate has now reached levels comparable to those seen during the pandemic, a situation Shekarabi described as largely "self-created." He also criticized the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) for returning billions of kronor to the state amid high unemployment, calling for these repayments to stop and for the implementation of a new, modern labor market policy.

This latest development underscores growing political pressure on the government to address rising unemployment with more urgency and policy innovation, particularly as unemployment strains the Swedish labor market and social welfare systems.