Sweden to double wage requirement for migrant workers

Stockholm, Sweden | Xinhua | Under new rules proposed by the Swedish government, job seekers from non-European Union (EU) countries will need to secure a higher minimum wage than before if they wish to obtain a work permit in the country, according to the government on Thursday.

The government, together with the support party, the Sweden Democrats, has a majority in parliament. If passed, the proposal will more than double the required sum from 13,000 kronor (1,269 U.S. dollars) to 26,560 kronor a month.

“The (proposal) aims to reduce fraud and exploitation linked to work-related immigration, while making it easier for more people who are already in Sweden to take the jobs that are available,” Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard told a press conference on Thursday.

The proposal is expected to mostly affect companies in the service sectors such as restaurants, cleaners and providers of domestic services.

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise has criticized the proposal, saying that many sectors which now have wages below the proposed threshold will have problems filling vacancies.

“No one is better placed to determine who needs to come here than the companies themselves,” the confederation’s Deputy Director General Karin Johansson told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN).

Work-related immigration is a sign that the labor force needed by companies is not available in the country, Johansson said.

While the proposal is expected to lower the influx of unskilled laborers, it will not affect the recruitment of skilled job seekers, the government said.

Last year, the Swedish Migration Agency approved some 24,000 work permit applications, while in the first four months of this year, the corresponding number was 11,300, according to the latest data published by the agency.

The government said it expects the new rule to be in effect from October. (1 Swedish krona = 0.097 U.S. dollars)