A return to unemployment insurance

In Sweden unemployment insurance is partly linked to the trade unions and is not obligatory. Because of rising contributions, many people have opted out of unemployment insurance in recent years, but now - in a period of economic uncertainty - they have started paying in again. The evening newspaper Aftonbladet comments: "If we can regard changes in the number of people paying unemployment insurance contributions as an indication of a reversal of the trend, then it would be in the month in which 8,000 jobs were officially cut, many of them in industry. If there really is a reverse in the trend of people opting out of unemployment insurance, that is hardly an indication that the problems have been solved. Jobs that only recently were regarded as secure are now under threat, and more and more people are sensing that the time has come to make provisions for the future."

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