In his opening speech, LO President Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson focused on full employment as the most important current issue. Unemployment is still high in Sweden - 440 000 - and the unemployment rate only declined by 6000 during the last year. The Swedish government remains passive and has no visions or tangible ideas. We need a new government that will focus on unemployment as priority issue.
In his speech Guy Ryder also focused the issue of unemployment. We have lost 62 million jobs in the world since the economic and financial crises, he said, and the prognosis ahead until the year 2018 is 75 million.
- Tackling this is a task for the ILO but the contribution of all countries is needed. It is tragic and unacceptable that such a great number of young people in Sweden are unemployed. We need more growth and we need to focus on education and training. The Swedish youth guarantee can be spread as a good example. But we must not forgo job quality or work environment.
Link to LO Play (start at 49 minutes)