8. Decent work and economic growth

At national level, Sweden has a high level of employment with good wages and secure working conditions. However, there are challenges related to an increased share of precarious employment, labour shortages in some sectors, gender pay gaps and work-related ill health. There are also challenges linked to increasing the proportion of young people in work and creating employment for people with disabilities (Glokala Sverige n.d.).

The goal in a local context

Goal 8 is important for Malmö as the city faces challenges such as high unemployment, long-term unemployment and socio-economic segregation. More jobs need to be created in Malmö, not least for people with lower levels of education, while ensuring that these jobs are sustainable and fair. This work needs to be done in broad collaboration with the Swedish Public Employment Service and the local and regional business community. The municipality is also responsible for municipal adult education, which contributes to lifelong learning and gives people the opportunity to retrain later in life.

What it looks like in Malmö

Sustainable growth

Several of the sub-objectives under Goal 8 are jointly concerned with promoting sustainable economic growth that is both inclusive and protects the environment. The focus is on boosting economic growth by promoting innovation and productivity while strengthening sustainable business and entrepreneurship, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The economy also needs to become more resource-efficient and promote growth without increasing environmental degradation. The objective also emphasises the importance of promoting sustainable tourism that creates jobs and supports local culture and products.

Malmö has been transformed from an industrial city to a knowledge city and this development accelerated after 2000 when the Öresund Bridge, Malmö and Copenhagen, was completed. In addition to the Öresund Bridge, this development has been accelerated by other initiatives such as Malmö University, Bo01, Hyllie and the City Tunnel, as well as the municipality's investment in knowledge-intensive, technology-based and innovative entrepreneurship through, for example, Minc. Today, Malmö has a diversified and growing economy and growth in the private sector is good. For example, 100 new head offices have been established in Malmö since 2000, and companies in the IT, media and gaming industries, as well as other knowledge-intensive sectors, are growing in Malmö. Malmö is an engine of growth for Skåne, and around four out of ten new jobs in Skåne County are created in Malmö. Economic development has had several positive effects for Malmö and its inhabitants, such as a 48 per cent increase in Malmö's GDP (gross regional product) since 2012, more highly skilled jobs and an increase in disposable income. However, analyses that have been carried out show that the new jobs that have been created are to a greater extent in sectors that employ highly skilled people, rather than in sectors that employ low-skilled people, and that the proportion of people employed in services that are not knowledge-intensive has remained at the same level since the 1990s. This is despite Malmö showing the highest growth in non-knowledge-intensive services of Sweden's three metropolitan municipalities between 1990 and 2020. The fact that the share of jobs in sectors employing people who are not highly educated is relatively low is an obstacle to achieving sustainable growth. This is because Malmö has a large proportion of residents who are far from the labour market (City of Malmö 2023).

The tourism industry has developed positively for most of the 2000s and the supply has grown as new facilities, attractions and hotels have been established (Malmöläget 2023). However, there is currently no good way to measure the sustainability of the tourism industry based on all sustainability dimensions.

Full and productive employment

Unemployment in Malmö has fallen since 2020 and stood at around 12 per cent in 2023. However, Malmö has an unemployment rate that is around twice as high as in Stockholm, Gothenburg and the country as a whole. It can also be noted that Malmö has a lower employment rate than the country as a whole, but that the city has had a stronger development in terms of increasing employment. Despite this, large differences remain between different groups, particularly between those born in Sweden and those born abroad. Increasing the employment rate of foreign-born people, especially foreign-born women, is crucial to closing the employment gap with the country.

Preventing young people from falling out of education and work is a key factor in improving employment and reducing unemployment over time. The share of young people neither working nor studying (aged 16-24 and 25-29) has decreased over time, but Malmö is still at a higher level than Gothenburg, Stockholm and the country as a whole. There is a particularly large gap among the younger age groups (16-24).

Decent working conditions and safe working environment

Malmö has experienced a positive development in terms of labour force participation in recent years and the average income of Malmö residents has increased over the last decade. However, the average income of Malmö residents is lower compared to cities such as Stockholm and Gothenburg. Average incomes are also higher for men than for women. There are also large differences in income between individuals living in different parts of Malmö and between people from different regions of birth.

A major obstacle to sustainable economic growth, and to ensuring decent work for all Malmö residents, is the development of the informal sector. The informal sector is the part of an economy that is not registered with the authorities and thus does not generate tax or welfare rights for the individual. It includes undeclared work and trade, as well as crime. For obvious reasons, reliable data on the informal sector is lacking. However, several comprehensive analyses highlight the impact of the informal sector on social inequality, working conditions, exploitation of vulnerable groups in the labour market (not least migrants), health and sustainable growth in Malmö. The expansion of the informal sector leads to precarious working conditions and less protection for workers, which in turn contributes to increased inequalities in health and living conditions. The expansion of the informal sector also risks worsening profitability, employment and conditions in low-productivity and less profitable sectors of the economy, as the formal sector must compete to some extent with the informal sector (BRÅ 2012; City of Malmö 2013; City of Malmö 2023, Hellgren 2024).

Accidents at work are an important issue to highlight as safety at work is an important aspect of a safe working environment and decent working conditions. When it comes to accidents at work, the statistics show that the trend differs between men and women in Malmö. For men, the number of accidents at work has decreased over the last ten years, while for women it has increased. More men and women are involved in accidents at work in Malmö than in the country, Gothenburg and, above all, Stockholm.

Indicators

8.1 Unemployment among 16–64-year-olds, percentage (%) of the registered labor force

8.2 Unemployment by educational level, percentage (%)

8.3 Workplace accidents, number per 1,000 employed

8.4 Gross regional product, municipality, SEK 1,000 per capita

8.5 Labor force participation, ages 20–64, percentage (%)

8.6 Long-term unemployment, ages 25–65, percentage (%)

8.7 Employed, ages 20–64, percentage (%)

8.8 Employed, ages 20–65, percentage (%)

8.9 UVAS, ages 16–24, percentage (%)

8.10 UVAS, ages 25–29, percentage (%)

Referenser

Brå (2012). Brottslighet och trygghet i Malmö, Stockholm och Göteborg. En kartläggning. Tillgänglig: https://www.bra.se/download/18.1ff479c3135e8540b29800010627/1371914718470/2012_SULE_Slutredovisning_5_2_1.pdf

Glokala Sverige (u.å.). Arbetsbok – Agenda 2030. Tillgänglig: https://fn.se/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Arbetsbok_Glokala_Sverige_2021.pdf

Hellgren, Z. (2024). Det andra utanförskapet. En kunskapsöversikt om skuggsamhället i Sverige. Kunskapsöversikt 2024:2. Tillgänglig: https://www.delmi.se/Media/00bbjjgs/det-andra-utanfarskapet.pdf

Malmöläget (2023): Tillgängligt: Malmöläget 2024 (malmo.se)

Malmö stad (2023). Malmö. En stad, två berättelser. Tillväxtkommissionen för ett inkluderande och hållbart Malmö. Slutrapport maj 2023. Tillgänglig: https://malmo.se/download/18.1b37964d187e61d000e2afda/1686732130685/Malm%C3%B6%20Tillv%C3%A4xtkommission%20Slutrapport%20maj%202023.pdf

Malmö stad (2013). Malmös väg mot en socialt hållbar framtid, hälsa, välfärd och rättvisa. Kommissionen för ett socialt hållbart Malmö.

Svenska ESF-rådet (2019). Bakgrund till framtiden. En omvärldsanalys för ESF+ perioden 2021 – 2027. Diarienummer 2019/00190. Tillgänglig: https://www.esf.se/app/uploads/2020/11/Bakgrund-till-framtiden-en-omv%C3%A4rldsanalys-f%C3%B6r-esf-perioden-2021%E2%80%932027.pdf