I always knew the cost for a company hiring someone in Sweden is huge but I was really shocked to see the actual numbers. A person that has a salary of 30.000 swedish crowns (£2600) a month in the end costs the company 46.000 swedish crowns (£3991) a month with all the social welfare costs and vacation compensation and insurances and so on (the list is long).
Having discussed this with working swedes over the years I always found how few actually know that they as workers cost a lot not only for the company but also for the state and that they are far from being the providers that they think they are.
This is one of the main reasons why workers in Sweden are getting laid off and why companies outsource or opt for people from abroad who of course cost less when the state chooses to subsidise a company hiring foreign workers. The benefit for the company in doing so is financed by the tax payer meaning the cost is still the same.
I am a firm believer that workers who originate from Sweden will stand no chance on the future job market. I even see why when in fairness swedish workers have become lazy expecting the state and the unions and everyone else to hold their back when the truth of the matter is that they are just an expense whereas machines and other materials the company buy is an investment that is tax deductable.
It was a coincidence that these figures turned up just a day after me and my girlfriend witnessed swedish workers renovating the balconies where I live. The way they work is slow and old school and they take long breaks like time has stood still. I bet these builders even eat big meals at 9 in the morning which is an old tradition.
What they did in a week a polish crew would have done in 24 hours and when I run past the villas nearby many polish men work on peoples homes and the efficiency and quality is much better than that of a swedish worker.
At every job I had, and the list is long, I worked with work shy lazy swedes who used the union as an excuse to do absolutely nothing. It always became unbearable to try and do any sort of job at such a workplace with swedes as colleagues.
The swedish workers need a big wake up call and they need to be shown the figures of how much they in fact cost as they usually believe that they only contribute to the economy but that contribution is so much lower than any of them could ever imagine.
In an age where jobs disappear faster than ever this economic fact is hidden from us and only talked about by a few and that is a real shame.