Swedish news, week 38 in 2025
Immigration news
In a slightly funny juxtaposition, a handbook for Swedish companies on how to recruit talent from abroad came out same week as Moderaterna, the prime minister's party, announced they want immigrants to sign a “Sweden contract” on arrival.
The handbook is 92 pages. Despite being addressed to Swedish companies, it's written in English. Lots of advice in there is solid. It doesn't go deep into details and mostly keeps the scope to providing some motivation and the right links, which is understandable given how often the laws and rules change lately. Some details could have totally been included though. For example, the handbook says this in the section about writing a job ad: “Avoid Swedish-specific terms like “prestigelös” or “driven” – use straightforward alternatives.” Yeah well which alternatives? I also disagree with some advice like hiring relocation company to verify someone's dergee and spending money on “professional help reading CVs”, but the handbook is made in collaboration with a relocation company, so... :)
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio
Money + politics news
The government continued the steady stream of news about the upcoming budget (full version is getting presented tomorrow) which also contains some law changes.
Benefits for families where neither of the parents is working are going to be cut down by 40–75% (75% for the fourth child and onwards). The critics have brought up that when Denmark introduced similar measures, they got increased crime and worse school results instead of the intended increase in employment of the parents.
Sveriges Radio
Bli meddelad när något nytt publiceras av
A couple hundred million SEK will be dedicated to implementing the stricter rules for getting a citizenship.
Starting 1st of February 2026, smaller trailers (up to 3 taxable tons, which is meant to include caravans) will be tax-free, which is estimated to diminish the tax revenue with ~200 million SEK.
VAB (vård av barn, that's when a parent takes care of a sick kid and gets the loss of salary partially compensated by Försäkringskassan) is getting extended to cases when the parent needs to e.g. go to the school and instruct the staff how to help the kid with diabetes or talk about a functional impairment. This also goes into effect already in February 2026.
What you might hear at the fika
Flashback, Sweden's (in)famous old-school forum where one can post anonymously, is on the news because its CEO has been called to court. Prosecution says Flashback didn't remove 12 posts from 2022 and 2023 quickly enough. The posts are argued to contain incitement to ethnic hatred.
SVT Nyheter
On Saturday, an ambulance nurse was murdered on an emergency call in Harmånger (Gävleborg region; population: 614). A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Horrible. An ambulance nurse! Rest in peace.
SVT Nyheter
Data and reports
CAN (the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs, an NGO) has presented a report showing a decrease in drug use amoung the youth. Two-page summary in English is available here.
Jimmie Hjärtström
SCB (Statistics Sweden, a government agency) reports that the unemployment remains high: 8.7%. And among the youth it's 24%.
