Temporary Work in Turbulent Times: The Swedish Experience



Table 3.1. Fixed-term contract rate (percent of wage and salary employment) and share (of all

fιxed-term contracts) by economic sector 1990 and 2000._____________________________

1990____________

2000___________

% change________

Rate (%)

Share (%)

Rate (%)

Share (%)

Rate

Share

Primary sectors

13.9

2.0

23.4

1.5

69.0

-25.7

Manufacturing & mining

4.3

9.8

7.9

10.5

84.5

7.0

Construction

6.8

4.5

11.4

3.6

67.0

-20.0

Communications

6.9

4.8

12.9

5.8

86.7

19.8

Trade

9.5

11.4

15.3

11.7

60.8

2.6

Financial & business services

6.7

5.6

13.5

11.1

100.9

98.4

Education & research

13.1

9.8

19.1

12.0

45.8

22.8

Health & care

17.3

36.8

18.8

25.0

8.5

-32.2

Personal & cultural services

18.2

10.7

29.7

13.8

63.1

28.4

Public administration

7.7

4.5

12.1

4.7

56.9

5.7

Unknown

14.6

0.2

30.9

0.3

111.9

76.2

Total________________________

10.1

100.0

15.2

100.0

50.5

0.0_________

Source: Labour force surveys, Statistics Sweden.

employed in the major categories of fixed-term contracts.6 By far the largest type of fixed-term
contract involves replacement of absent workers. This is probably a feature fairly unique to
Sweden, which has generous allowance for many forms of leave, particularly parental leave and
long statutory holidays. The incidence of leave replacements has remained roughly constant at
around 4-5 percent of total wage and salary employment. The number of leave replacements are
almost entirely determined by the degree of leave taken by those on open-ended contracts, as
opposed to an intrinsic propensity on part of firms to hire labour on a fixed-term contract due to
the nature of the work to be done or other labour market conditions.

The entire rise in temporary work is accounted for by three categories: on-call contracts,
project work and probationary employment. On-call contracts have increased most rapidly, from
one percent to over three percent of the number of employees. Project work has also increased
significantly. Probationary contracts declined sharply at the start of the decade but have

5 These data are based on establishment surveys undertaken by Statistics Sweden (Kortperiodisk sysselsattnings-
statistik).

6 We have access to these observations for the first quarters of each year from 1990 and onwards. Sven Nelander at
LO (The Confederation of Swedish Trade Unions) has complied the data from unpublished tables of the labour force
surveys.



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