3,932,000 Swedes are members of the unemployment insurance fund (a-kassan), the highest number ever recorded. Most unemployment insurance funds have also seen an increase in membership since the turn of the year, but not all.
Since January, the number of members has grown by nearly 30,000. The previous record level, which was noted in January 2021, was surpassed in August.
– The fact that the unemployment insurance funds collectively have more members than ever before is very encouraging. The most clear explanation for more people perceiving unemployment insurance as important is likely the deteriorating economy. At the end of the summer, several layoff notices were issued in various sectors. For many, it certainly serves as an indication of the importance of insuring their income,says Tomas Eriksson, Chief Secretary of Sveriges a-kassor, in a press release.
In fifteen of the 24 unemployment insurance funds in Sweden, membership numbers are on the rise. The highest increase can be seen in the Swedish workers’ unemployment funds (Sveriges arbetares a-kassor), which has risen by 4.32 percent during the first three quarters of this year. Furthermore, the teachers’ unemployment insurance fund has increased by 2.78 percent and the electricians’ fund by 1.73 percent.
At the same time, the number of members has decreased in nine unemployment insurance funds, but it is not yet specified which ones they are.
The five largest unemployment funds after the third quarter of 2023:
Akademikernas a-kassa, 767 358 members
Unionen a-kassa, 740 286 members
Kommunalarbetarnas a-kassa, 605 170 members
IF Metalls a-kassa, 275 768 members
Handelsanställdas a-kassa, 186 593 members
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In a new project, researchers want to find a way to breed cows that emit less methane gas. The ultimate goal is to reduce total emissions by 25% in 25 years.
In the ongoing project, carried out by geneticists and researchers at Växa Sverige with support from SLU, the plan is to measure emissions from 100,000 cows and sheep in Sweden. The project, called the Global Metagenetics Initiative, is led internationally by Wageningen University.
It will also involve DNA testing of different cows to find out which type of cow burps the least.
– This knowledge will allow us to carry out a so-called genomic breeding evaluation. This means that we select and breed the cows that have many predispositions for low methane gas emissions, says Tomas Klingström at SLU, to the tax-funded SVT.
According to researchers, there can be a big difference in belching between different ruminants, with some cows emitting 30 percent less methane gas than others.
– The goal is to reduce methane emissions from cows by 25% in 25 years.
A bun-baking grandmother in Norrbotten has been sentenced to prison by the Court of Appeal for selling homemade buns without a permit. While the court takes her unauthorized baked goods seriously, many are questioning whether Swedish courts have time to knead such trivial matters.
A 65-year-old woman in Norrbotten has been sentenced to six weeks in prison for selling buns, bread, and sandwich cakes via Facebook without a registered food business, according to a ruling from the Court of Appeal for Northern Norrland, reports Bonnier-owned Expressen.
The municipality had prohibited the sales and issued fines totaling SEK 130,000 (€12,000), which the woman, living on a pensioner’s income, could not pay. The fine was therefore converted into a prison sentence – a penalty her lawyer calls “unreasonable”.
For several years, the woman has been running the business and engaging many customers on social media by posting pictures of her baked goods and her grandchildren.
Jojo, det går bra att ta i med hårdhandskarna när det inte är något våldskapital hos motparten. Bra signal till medborgarna så att ingen ska tro att den systemhotande kriminaliteten kommer att angripas.
Translation of above tweet: “Yes, it’s okay to use heavy-handed tactics when the other side isn’t violent. It sends a good signal to citizens that no one should think that crimes that threaten the system will go unpunished“.
Appealed to the Supreme Court
Attorney Frida Larsson stresses that the woman considered baking a hobby, often giving away buns to her grandchildren and charging only a minimal amount to cover ingredient costs.
Nonetheless, the Court of Appeal chose to swiftly impose a prison sentence, despite her health issues and financial hardship.
– She is deeply distressed and does not understand how she will endure a prison term given her deteriorating health and age. This has taken a heavy toll on her, Larsson says.
The ruling has sparked public outrage and is being appealed to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the question remains: Is prison truly the right recipe for justice in this case?
The Riksdag’s smallest party, the Liberals, will appoint a new party leader at an extraordinary national meeting on June 24. This comes after Johan Pehrson announced his resignation.
Pehrson himself says he wants to step back but will continue to be involved in politics in some form in the future.
– I’m not very old, but I am newly married, and I have led the party through two election campaigns, he announced during today’s press conference.
Pehrson was first elected to the Riksdag for the Liberal People’s Party at the age of 30 in 1998. Between 2022 and 2024, he served as Sweden’s Minister for Employment and Integration and is currently the Minister for Education in the Kristersson government.
The Liberals are the smallest party in the Riksdag, with 4.6 percent of the vote in the 2022 election, and are currently polling below the 4 percent threshold according to opinion polls.
Criminal networks are now placing young people in selected schools to maintain control over drug trafficking and territories. The Swedish government says it has called a crisis meeting with three authorities to counter this development.
Several schools in metropolitan areas have become hubs for the gangs’ strategic exercise of power, according to a report by the state broadcaster SVT’s Uppdrag granskning.
By influencing school choice, the networks place young people with links to criminal circles in specific educational environments – a way of ensuring continued drug sales and keeping an eye on rivals.
School administrators and teachers have sounded the alarm about how young people are being distributed among schools according to the wishes of gang criminal networks.
According to reports, groups divide cities among themselves in order to avoid conflicts and secure the market.
– From what I experience, they’re told from above to choose schools so they can maintain power, their territory or control over a specific school, says an anonymous school host.
Dystopiskt nytt avsnitt av uppdrag granskning.
Gängkriminella bestämmer vilka skolor elever ska gå i för att deras nätverk ska behålla kontroll över området.
Skolan används sedan för att sälja narkotika, förvara vapen och rekrytera unga. pic.twitter.com/AtEc9JNss1
Planning for school choice often takes place outside the school grounds, where older criminals meet younger ones. The choice of upper secondary school becomes part of the gang’s long-term strategy to keep sales channels open during the three years the students are studying.
At the same time, some students store weapons and drugs on school premises, and in some cases the school is used as a recruitment base for violent assignments. Police and school staff report a worrying increase in such cases.
– If we talk about an area where I have many enemies, where I know I’ve hurt people, if they go to a school there, I definitely don’t want to start at that school. Because they’ll come after me, says gang member “Hassan”.
“Hassan”, whose real name is something else, is in his last year of high school and has ties to criminal networks. For him and other students in similar environments, the choice of school determines their safety.
Photo: facsimile/Hem&hyra/Youtube
A tenfold increase
Statistics from the Swedish Prosecution Authority show that the number of 15-17-year-olds suspected of murder has increased by over a thousand percent in a decade. During the first quarter of this year, 128 young people were charged in 190 different murder investigations.
Children under the age of 15 have been suspected of 136 cases of murder planning – a threefold increase compared to last year. This development has prompted the government to call in the National Agency for Education, the Swedish Schools Inspectorate, and the Police Authority.
The aim is to coordinate efforts and prevent schools from being used as part of the criminal infrastructure.
– School should be a safe place for learning . not an arena where criminal forces gain a foothold. It is completely unacceptable that teachers are intimidated into silence by students with violent tendencies, strategically placed by criminal networks, says Minister of Education Johan Pehrson.
At the same time, the Crime Prevention Council reports that prosecutions of 15-17-year-olds increased by 10% in 2023 compared with the previous year.
However, researchers warn that repressive measures alone are not enough – preventive work and social support measures are highlighted as crucial to breaking the trend.
The Swedish government has announced that more proposals are on the way. The authorities’ feedback is expected in the coming weeks.
