Sweden: Challenges to the welfare state

Antonio Rondón

RECENT disturbances in some 10 suburban communities around Stockholm have called attention to cracks in Sweden’s so-called welfare state, exposing the problematic marginalization of immigrants in the country.

The conservative government of Prime Minister Frederik Reindelf has implemented policies over the last seven years to progressively eliminate state responsibility in the social arena.

As occurred in suburban Paris neighborhoods, housing was constructed but little industrial infrastructure, creating communities with few employment options. Many residents have therefore left the area for the capital or other cities, in search of work.

The deteriorating atmosphere of criminality has strained living conditions in neighborhoods built as part of a housing program labeled the Million Plan, and contributed to the exodus of middle class Swedes from these areas.

The low-cost housing units built in the 1960’s were occupied by immigrants and several waves of refugees from conflicts in such places as the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

According to SVT television, 80% of citizens in Stockholm’s suburbs are immigrants, 16% of whom are unemployed, while in the capital city proper the rate is only 3.2%.

One of the detonators which sparked the recent disturbances is the high level of youth unemployment in these communities, which is more than 25% according to Megafonen.

Generally speaking, Sweden’s 12% national unemployment average is among the lowest in Europe, but for youth under 24 years of age, the figure is 27.2%.

"Being young and living in these segregated areas can be difficult, without contact with other Swedes and often not understanding Swedish society well," commented Aje Carriboro, social anthropologist at Malmo University.

Minister of Integration Erik Ullenberg has acknowledged that in the Husby neighborhood where disturbances left 20 persons injured, 8% of its 12,000 residents are unemployed.

Uve Serhele, from Gothenburg University’s Center for Urban Studies, says that shocking and growing differences exist in the country’s large cities.

The Swedish delegate to Save the Children, Elisabeth Dahin, linked the uprisings outside Stockholm to frustration with unemployment and poverty, as well as inadequate employment policies and the limited resources allocated for social support.

Jens Spendrup, president of the Federation of Swedish Supervisors, stated that unemployment is the only reasonable explanation for the disturbances during which dozens of cars were burnt; and schools, shopping centers and public buildings were damaged.

As is the case in other European countries, the economic crisis and five-year recession have led to an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment and growing support for xenophobic organizations such as the Sweden Democrats.

According to polls, this right-wing group has become the third most popular political force going into the 2014 general elections and is now using the disturbances to gain support.

Sweden is no longer the model of a just society, coming closer to the European average in a number of indicators.

The country has experienced rapid growth in its poverty rate, as compared to the rest of Europe. Between 1995 and 2010, Sweden moved from having the fourth lowest rate to the 14th spot, with unemployment going from 4% to 9%, still below the continental average of 12%.