Umeå University's logo

Det krävs en bred och oberoende analys av experter med olika kompetens. Låt den oberoende forskningen vid svenska lärosäten vara med och bidra med kunskap i syfte att öka sannolikheten för att den har typen av investeringar i framtiden ska bli lyckade ur ett klimat, samhällsekonomiskt, demokratiskt och socialt hållbart perspektiv

Regeringens ointresse för människors livsvillkor i kämpande kommuner riskerar att underminera tron på den gröna omställningen, skriver tre forskare.

The local presence and composition of skills is commonly thought to have enormous implications foreconomic development. Yet, skills and the relations between them are notoriously difficult to pinpointand measure. We develop a method that uses information available in Swedish job postings tomeasure the skill-relatedness of jobs and the skill-coherence of local economies. Our skill-relatednessmeasure can be assumed to be exogenous to local economic outcomes such as wages, productivity andlabour mobility. We corroborate some previous research findings and show that workers tend to switchbetween related jobs and that local economies are on average skill-coherent. However, less coherentlocal economies are associated with higher average wages and productivity. Local economies whereworkers switch between related jobs though enjoy higher average wages. In all, this points to thebenefit of local labour market clusters within more diverse regions. We conclude that job postingsprovide a wealth of information on the skill-foundations of local development. A job-level skill-relatedness matrix accompanies the paper.

This paper uses register data and open vacancy data to determine if green industries require different skills than other employers. This is done by focusing on how the entry of the battery producer Northvolt changed the labour demand when establishing in Skellefteå (Sweden). Using data on all vacancies in Sweden 2016–2023 we analyse the skill- and knowledge demand in Northvolt's job ads and compare that to the labour demand at the local, regional and national level. In terms of occupations, we find only minor tendencies towards a higher demand of higher-skilled jobs compared to incumbent local employers, but an increase of service work and a reinforcement of the local manual work specialization. Using language models, we combine the vacancies with a scheme of skills and knowledge from the ESCO-taxonomy. Interestingly, Northvolt deviates in both the skill- and knowledge requirements compared to similar jobs in the rest of the country. This especially concerns a greater emphasis on information, collaboration and communication skills in contrast to other employers who stress manufacturing experience. Despite these skill-specific differences, our experimental approach finds little evidence that the entry spurred a significant diversification and upgrading of the regional labour market.

Using a broad range of materials (media and interviews), we analyse the development of three green megaprojects in the two northernmost regions of Sweden. We find support for the presence of a strong ideological fantasy tied to a few “green heroes”, supporting the notion that the investments are the ultimate answer not only to climate crisis but also to the territory’s perceived left-behindness. The symbolic construction of the fantasy also contributes to the production of killjoys through marginalizing and feminizing opposition to the megaprojects. Our analysis thereby points to the importance of a feminist intervention and critique of the neoliberal ideology that frames green megaprojects.

This research note contains an update of the research program “A promised land? Drivers, challenges and opportunities related to the (green) industrialization of Northern Sweden,” (nr. M22-0029) awarded by the Swedish Riksbankens Jubileumsfond’s in 2022. The document summarizes work in progress and is updated annually in different versions according to the requirements of the program. 

This interdisciplinary program aims to understand the economic, social, and political challenges and opportunities of the ongoing industrial transformation in northern Sweden. A key element of the program is to identify drivers, obstacles, and preconditions in a historical, present, and forward-looking process-perspective. 

Recent large investments in northern Sweden connected to the green transition – primarily within mining and manufacturing (fossil-free steel, batteries) – have led to substantial increases in local demand for labour. In a territory with low unemployment and a decreasing labour supply due to ageing and a history of net outmigration, there is a substantial risk that this increased labour demand will, particularly in the short term, draw at least to some extent from the public sector.

Against this backdrop, the chapter examines the dynamic effects of employment expansion in the mining and manufacturing industries on public sector employment in northern Sweden during the period 1990–2019. It also analyses which factors affect the probability of a worker leaving the public sector for a job in manufacturing or mining.

Our results suggest that the expansion of manufacturing and, in particular, mining has a negative short-term effect on public sector employment. The largest effect is attributable to poaching from public administration, with education and health less affected. Assuming a linear trend based on previous labour market interdependencies, a three standard deviation increase in mining (about 2,700 new jobs) and manufacturing (about 10,800 new jobs) could potentially lead to 8% of the current public administration workforce being poached. The results also indicate that younger individuals, low- and high-income earners, and those highly educated in the social or technical sciences are the most likely to leave the public sector. In the longer perspective, these vacancies go on to be filled by skilled but inexperienced workers.

A number of policy implications arise from the above findings. First, given the regional dimension of job mobility, policy-makers should consider how large investments influence the other parts of a regional economy, rather than simply attending to the immediate demands of focal industries. Second, while the poaching of public sector employees will inevitably occur, the functioning of the public sector also hinges on the supply of workers entering the labour market. There is therefore a pressing need to bolster the status of key public sector jobs and improve working conditions, thereby ensuring they are regarded as viable career opportunities when mining and manufacturing expands. The public sector should also ensure that it is in a position to attract and retain workers crowded out of the mining and manufacturing in the event of future rationalisation. Third, general policy interventions may not serve local needs, especially the spatial mismatch of available jobs and supply of workers. Support for relocation tailored to local demands is therefore crucial.

Resilience has gathered significant attention from economic geographers, yet their focus has primarily centered on economic outcomes at the regional level. This approach often overlooks the intricate micro-processes and lived experiences during crises, assuming that individual resilience can be understood solely through macro-level economic observations. We argue that comprehending the questions of resilience 'to what means' and 'to what ends' requires that we acknowledge the importance of social reproduction and daily practices. Through semi-structured interviews with mink farmers in Denmark and by using the concepts of spaces of dependence and spaces of engagement, we first highlight the everyday practices and broader social structures that individuals aim to preserve and reproduce. Second, we draw attention to the application of a relational spatial ontology in resilience studies by discussing cross-scalar networks of individuals as an adaptation strategy. In so doing, we contribute to the resilience literature in economic geography by highlighting that resilience for individuals entails the reproduction of everyday practices. We also draw attention to the consequences of network detachment for individual livelihoods. Thus unveiling how peripherality is shaped and re/produced, rather than given, through the evolving networks of 'left behind' people in 'left behind' places.

In discussing the regional dimensions of skills supply, this chapter has sought to demonstrate that the local reasons behind skills shortages vary. The key challenge facing many of Sweden’s rural regions is an absolute shortage of workers, which has been exacerbated in some regions by demand shocks related to rapid re- industrialisation. At the same time, there are municipalities (rural and particularly urban) with varying vacancy rates that are also experiencing high unemployment. This indicates local pockets of mismatch, with vacancies not matching the skills of the unemployed both in broader functional regions around urban cores and in relatively solitary rural regions. Moreover, it points to a spatial mismatch between vacancies on the one hand and the unemployed on the other

SLU arbetar sedan 2019 med regeringsuppdraget ”Uppdrag landsbygd”, som syftar till att stärka forskningen om Sveriges landsbygder och främja samverkan mellan de aktörer som bedriver forskning och arbetar inom landsbygds- och regional utveckling i Sverige. En del i uppdraget handlar om att bistå landsbygds- och infrastrukturdepartementet med policyrelevant information. I arbetet mot detta har vi inom Uppdrag landsbygd utvecklat så kallade policyverkstäder - workshopserier där forskare möts för att diskutera utpekade teman som är centrala för Sveriges landsbygder och som departementet önskar få inspel kring i arbetet med att ta fram beslutsunderlag till politiken. Syftet med processerna är att identifiera behov av ny policy för att adressera utmaningar och möjligheter för utveckling av svenska landsbygder inom respektive tema. Denna rapport är en bearbetad sammanfattning av resultatet från policyverkstaden på temat livsmedelsberedskap och skildrar de argument som presenterades av forskarna som deltog i workshopen.