The reform of the Public Employment Service — weak governance and follow-up

What happened

After the 2019 budget compromise and the January Agreement, a far-reaching reform of labour market policy began in which private providers were to take over job matching.

Who reviewed

The Swedish National Audit Office (Riksrevisionen) and the Swedish Agency for Public Management (Statskontoret)

Criticism

Riksrevisionen and Statskontoret pointed to weak follow-up of providers, insufficient evidence for assessing the effect of the service and an unclear division of responsibility. Office closures were judged to have reduced accessibility in several localities.

Outcome

The pace of reform was slowed, parts of the office network were re-established, the procurement of the matching service was adjusted and governance was clarified in the appropriation directions.

Agency's own reply

The Public Employment Service has stated that it has taken the criticism on board, strengthened its follow-up of providers and broadened accessibility through cooperation with the Swedish Statens servicecenter.

Updated 2026-07-08

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SVERIGEFAKTA. (2026). SVERIGEFAKTA. Retrieved 2026-10-03, from https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/arbetsformedlingen-reform

SVERIGEFAKTA (2026) SVERIGEFAKTA. Available at: https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/arbetsformedlingen-reform (Accessed: 2026-10-03).

SVERIGEFAKTA, "SVERIGEFAKTA", https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/arbetsformedlingen-reform (accessed 2026-10-03).

@misc{sverigefakta_2026_en_agencyoversight_arbetsformedlingenreform,
  author       = {SVERIGEFAKTA},
  title        = {SVERIGEFAKTA},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/arbetsformedlingen-reform}},
  note         = {Dataset v2026.2, accessed 2026-10-03}
}

https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/arbetsformedlingen-reform