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Employment If you have a working permit (arbetstillstånd) and plan to work while in Sweden, you should get in touch with the Employment Office (see Arbetsförmedlingen in the yellow or pink pages of the telephone book) without delay in order to investigate your opportunities on the Swedish labour market. You should be assigned a placement/employment officer in your field of expertise. They can help with job training, internships and questions concerning unemployment compensation. Your Swedish language skills are usually an important factor affecting your chances of finding employment. Even then, finding a job is not so easy, and unemployment in Sweden is high. Arbetsförmedlingen has an online searchable job bank (platsbanken) that is updated daily (site in Swedish). Also listed in the yellow pages under Arbetsförmedling are the private employment agencies which specialize in temporary work, recruiting and training. A company or public agency wishing to employ you will offer you a certain wage or salary and benefits that go with the job. You will be asked to sign an employment contract (anställningsavtal) outlining the conditions of employment, your salary and the type of employment you are being offered. Before you sign it, however, you should consult a trade union representative. At almost all Swedish places of work, the employees are members of one or another trade union. There are two main types of employment: time-specific (visstidsanställning) and "until further notice" (tillsvidareanställning). The latter is the most common and safest form of employment. You will be able to remain in your job as long as there is work to do and so long as you do not consciously neglect your duties. You receive insurance and retirement benefits as well as five weeks’ paid vacation per year (as required by law). A normal full-time work week is 40 hours, and overtime must be compensated and limited according to the Working Hours Act. If you are sick and must stay home from work, you are not compensated for the first day but will receive 80% of your salary for the following days. You receive 80% even from the first day if you need to stay home to care for your children under 12 years of age. A generous maternity/paternity leave allows new parents to be free from work for a total of 450 days at 80% salary (which can be divided and shared between them in various ways), and the parents are entitled to return to their jobs afterwards. (Note: Sick pay, parental allowances and such are administered by Försäkringskassan and not the responsibility of your employer.) You are generally required to have a bank account when you accept employment, as salaries are usually direct-deposited on a monthly basis. You will receive a salary and tax itemization (lönspecifikation) in the mail a couple of days before the deposit is made to your account. Equal employment opportunities for men and women are prescribed by law, and it is forbidden for an employer to discriminate a potential employee on the grounds of his or her gender. It is also prohibited to discriminate against immigrants, and "under-the-table" employment is strictly prohibited. Helpful terms related to working in Sweden:
Your fellow AWC members can be a valuable source of information about possible employment opportunities. Let them know that you are looking for work. Among other things, there is usually a need for English teachers. Links: The National Institute for Working Life (Arbetslivsinstitutet) The Swedish Work Environment Association (Arbetsmiljöforum) Du & jobbet – (You & the job) – a magazine about working life in Sweden (site in Swedish)
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