 | |
| Currency | Swedish krona (SEK • KR) |
|---|---|
| Calendar year | |
Trade organisations | EU,WTO,OECD and others |
Country group |
|
| Statistics | |
| Population | 10,587,710 (2024)[4] |
| GDP | |
| GDP rank | |
GDP growth | |
GDP per capita | |
GDP per capita rank | |
GDP by sector |
|
| |
Population belowpoverty line |
|
 27.6low (2024)[8] | |
| |
 82 out of 100 points (2023)[10] (6th) | |
Labour force | |
Labour force by occupation |
|
| Unemployment | 8.4% (2024)[13] |
Average gross salary | 41,600 kr / €3,744 monthly[14] (2025) |
| 32,622 kr / €2,936 monthly[15] (2025) | |
Main industries |
|
| External | |
| Exports | $170 billion (2017)[16] |
Export goods | machinery, motor vehicles, paper products, pulp and wood, iron and steel products, chemicals, military armaments |
Main export partners |
|
| Imports | $155 billion (2017)[18] |
Import goods | machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel; foodstuffs, clothing |
Main import partners |
|
FDI stock | $0.5 trillion (31 December 2012 est.) |
Grossexternal debt | $911 billion (2019)[20] |
| Public finances | |
| $60 billion (31 December 2012 est.)[22] | |
| Revenues | 49.8% of GDP (2019)[21] |
| Expenses | 49.3% of GDP (2019)[21] |
| Economic aid |
|
All values, unless otherwise stated, are inUS dollars. | |
Theeconomy of Sweden is a highly developedexport-oriented economy, aided by timber,hydropower, andiron ore. These constitute the resource base of an economy oriented toward foreign trade. The main industries includemotor vehicles,telecommunications,pharmaceuticals, industrial machines, precision equipment, chemical goods, home goods and appliances,forestry, iron, and steel. Traditionally,Sweden relied on a modernagricultural economy that employed over half the domestic workforce. Today, Sweden further develops engineering, mine, steel, and pulp industries, which are competitive internationally, as evidenced by companies such asEricsson,ASEA/ABB,SKF,Alfa Laval,AGA, andDyno Nobel.[28]
Sweden is a competitive openmixed economy. The vast majority of Swedish enterprises areprivately owned and market-oriented. There is also a strongwelfare state, with public-sector spending accounting up to three-fifths of GDP.[29][30] In 2014, the percent of national wealth owned by the government was 24%.[31]
Due to Sweden being one of theneutral powers during World War II, it did not have to rebuild its economic base, the banking system, and country as a whole, as did many other European countries. Sweden has achieved a highstandard of living under a mixed system ofhigh-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. Sweden has the second highesttotal tax revenue behind Denmark, as a share of the country's income. As of 2012[update], the total tax revenue was 44.2% of GDP, down from 48.3% in 2006.[32]
In 2014 the National Institute of Economic research predicted GDP growth of 1.8%, 3.1% and 3.4% in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively.[33][needs update] A comparison of upcoming economic growth rates ofEuropean Union countries revealed that theBaltic states,Poland, andSlovakia are the only countries that are expected to keep comparable or higher growth rates.[34]
In the 19th century Sweden evolved from a largelyagricultural economy into the beginnings of an industrialized, urbanized country. Poverty remained widespread, prompting a large portion of the country to emigrate, mainly to the United States. Economic reforms and the creation of a modern economic system, banks and corporations were enacted during the later half of the 19th century. During that time Sweden was in a way the "powerhouse" of the Scandinavian region with a strong industrialization process commencing in the 1860s. Moreover, theSwedish Riksdag had developed into a very active Parliament already during theAge of Liberty (1719–72), and this tradition continued into the nineteenth century, laying the basis for the transition towards modern democracy at the end of said century. Apart from relatively high levels of human capital formation, the result of the Reformation and related government policies, such local democratic traditions were the other asset that made the "catching up" of the Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, possible and this economic rise was probably the most remarkable phenomenon in that region during the nineteenth century.[35]
By the 1930s, Sweden had whatLifemagazine called in 1938 the "world's highest standard of living".[36] Sweden declared itself neutral during both world wars, thereby avoiding much physical destruction and instead, especially after the First World War, profiting from the new circumstances – such as booming demand for raw materials and foodstuffs and the disappearance of international competition for its exports.[37] The postwar boom, that was the continuation of strong inflationary tendencies during the war itself,[37] propelled Sweden to greater economic prosperity. Beginning in the 1970s and culminating with the deep recession of the early 1990s, Swedish standards of living developed less favorably than many other industrialized countries. Since the mid-1990s, the economic performance has improved.[citation needed]
In 2009, Sweden had the world's tenth highest GDP per capita in nominal terms and was in 14th place in terms ofpurchasing power parity.[38]
Sweden has had an economic model in the post-World War II era characterized by close cooperation between the government, labour unions, and corporations. The Swedish economy has extensive and universal social benefits funded by high taxes, close to 50% of GDP.[39] In the 1980s, a real estate and financial bubble formed, driven by a rapid increase in lending. A restructuring of the tax system, in order to emphasize low inflation combined with an international economic slowdown in the early 1990s, caused the bubble to burst. Between 1990 and 1993 GDP went down by 5% and unemployment skyrocketed, causing the worst economic crisis in Sweden since the 1930s. According to an analysis published inComputer Sweden in 1992, the investment level decreased drastically for information technology and computing equipment, except in the financial and banking sector, the part of the industry that created the crisis.[40] The investment levels for IT and computers were restored as early as 1993.[41] In 1992 there was a run on thecurrency, thecentral bank briefly jacking up interest to 500% in an unsuccessful effort to defend the currency's fixed exchange rate.[42] Total employment fell by almost 10% during the crisis.
A real estate boom ended in a bust. The government took over nearly a quarter of banking assets at a cost of about 4% of the nation's GDP. This was known colloquially as the "Stockholm Solution". In 2007, theUnited States Federal Reserve noted, "In the early 1970s, Sweden had one of the highest income levels in Europe; today, its lead has all but disappeared...So, even well-managed financial crises don't really have a happy ending".[43]
The welfare system that had been growing rapidly since the 1970s could not be sustained with a falling GDP, lower employment and larger welfare payments. In 1994 thegovernment budget deficit exceeded 15% of GDP. The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness. When the international economic outlook improved combined with a rapid growth in the IT sector, which Sweden was well positioned to capitalize on, the country was able to emerge from the crisis.[44]
The crisis of the 1990s was by some viewed as the end of the much buzzed welfare model called "Svenska modellen", literally "The Swedish Model", as it proved that governmental spending at the levels previously experienced in Sweden was not long-term sustainable in a global open economy.[45] Much of the Swedish Model's acclaimed advantages actually had to be viewed as a result of the post WWII special situation, which left Sweden untouched when competitors' economies were comparatively weak.[46]
However, the reforms enacted during the 1990s seem to have created a model in which extensive welfare benefits can be maintained in a global economy.[39]
In recent years, the Swedish welfare state model has been weakened. Massive privatizations have been carried out since the 1990s, including in public services such as health and education. Inequality has risen sharply, in particular because of a tax system that does not tax wealth and inheritance.[47]
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2022–2027). Inflation under 5% is in green.[48]
| Year | GDP (in bn. US$PPP) | GDP per capita (in US$ PPP) | GDP (in bn. US$nominal) | GDP per capita (in US$ nominal) | GDP growth (real) | Inflation rate (in percent) | Unemployment (in percent) | Government debt (in % of GDP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 87.6 | 10,531.9 | 140.4 | 16,877.2 |  4.6% |  17.5% | 2.7% | n/a |
| 1981 | 100.2 | 12,044.3 | 128.1 | 15,396.7 | 4.5% | 12.1% | 3.4% | n/a |
| 1982 | 107.9 | 12,960.2 | 113.1 | 13,576.6 | 1.4% | 8.6% | 4.3% | n/a |
| 1983 | 114.5 | 13,739.8 | 103.9 | 12,470.9 | 2.1% | 8.9% | 4.8% | n/a |
| 1984 | 123.7 | 14,833.2 | 108.3 | 12,976.1 | 4.3% | 8.0% | 4.2% | n/a |
| 1985 | 130.6 | 15,629.1 | 113.2 | 13,549.5 | 2.3% | 7.4% | 3.9% | n/a |
| 1986 | 137.2 | 16,371.7 | 149.6 | 17,852.7 | 3.0% | 4.2% | 3.6% | n/a |
| 1987 | 145.3 | 17,263.6 | 182.0 | 21,629.3 | 3.3% | 4.2% | 2.9% | n/a |
| 1988 | 154.1 | 18,216.4 | 205.9 | 24,339.3 | 2.5% | 5.8% | 2.4% | n/a |
| 1989 | 164.4 | 19,278.6 | 216.7 | 25,412.2 | 2.7% | 6.4% | 2.0% | n/a |
| 1990 | 171.8 | 20,001.0 | 259.9 | 30,253.9 | 0.8% | 10.5% | 2.2% | n/a |
| 1991 | 175.7 | 20,322.8 | 272.2 | 31,490.2 | -1.1% | 8.8% | 4.0% | n/a |
| 1992 | 178.0 | 20,478.1 | 283.2 | 32,584.9 | -0.9% | 1.4% | 7.1% | n/a |
| 1993 | 178.9 | 20,455.1 | 213.0 | 24,351.1 | -1.8% | 4.7% | 11.2% | 65.7% |
| 1994 | 189.9 | 21,537.6 | 229.0 | 25,978.3 | 3.9% | 2.9% | 10.8% | 68.2% |
| 1995 | 201.5 | 22,799.9 | 267.3 | 30,246.9 | 3.9% | 2.5% | 10.4% | 68.3% |
| 1996 | 208.4 | 23,565.4 | 291.7 | 32,986.1 | 1.6% | 1.0% | 10.9% | 68.7% |
| 1997 | 218.5 | 24,699.1 | 268.1 | 30,307.2 | 3.1% | 1.8% | 10.9% | 67.4% |
| 1998 | 230.5 | 26,034.3 | 270.8 | 30,585.1 | 4.3% | 1.0% | 8.8% | 65.1% |
| 1999 | 243.7 | 27,500.4 | 274.1 | 30,928.6 | 4.2% | 0.6% | 7.6% | 60.1% |
| 2000 | 261.1 | 29,393.1 | 262.8 | 29,589.1 | 4.8% | 1.3% | 6.3% | 50.2% |
| 2001 | 270.8 | 30,400.8 | 242.4 | 27,207.5 | 1.4% | 2.7% | 5.8% | 51.8% |
| 2002 | 281.1 | 31,441.2 | 266.8 | 29,846.2 | 2.2% | 1.9% | 6.0% | 49.8% |
| 2003 | 293.3 | 32,674.8 | 334.3 | 37,249.3 | 2.3% | 2.3% | 6.6% | 49.3% |
| 2004 | 314.2 | 34,868.2 | 385.1 | 42,736.9 | 4.3% | 1.0% | 7.4% | 48.5% |
| 2005 | 333.3 | 36,841.1 | 392.2 | 43,349.9 | 2.9% | 0.8% | 7.8% | 48.8% |
| 2006 | 359.6 | 39,463.0 | 423.1 | 46,425.8 | 4.7% | 1.5% | 7.2% | 43.7% |
| 2007 | 382.1 | 41,605.3 | 491.3 | 53,496.5 | 3.4% | 1.7% | 6.3% | 39.0% |
| 2008 | 387.6 | 41,877.3 | 517.7 | 55,929.9 | -0.5% | 3.3% | 6.4% | 37.5% |
| 2009 | 373.2 | 39,952.7 | 436.5 | 46,734.9 | -4.3% | 1.9% | 8.5% | 40.7% |
| 2010 | 400.2 | 42,498.8 | 495.8 | 52,658.8 | 6.0% | 1.9% | 8.8% | 38.1% |
| 2011 | 421.5 | 44,450.3 | 574.1 | 60,540.2 | 3.2% | 1.4% | 8.0% | 37.1% |
| 2012 | 432.5 | 45,258.8 | 552.5 | 57,816.0 | -0.6% | 0.9% | 8.2% | 37.5% |
| 2013 | 444.6 | 46,098.8 | 586.8 | 60,845.0 | 1.2% | 0.4% |  8.2% | 40.2% |
| 2014 | 457.5 | 46,936.6 | 582.0 | 59,704.8 | 2.7% | 0.2% | 8.1% | 44.9% |
| 2015 | 481.3 | 48,857.9 | 505.1 | 51,274.3 | 4.5% | 0.7% | 7.6% | 43.7% |
| 2016 | 500.4 | 50,061.6 | 515.7 | 51,590.5 | 2.1% | 1.1% | 7.2% | 42.3% |
| 2017 | 530.4 | 52,413.1 | 541.0 | 53,459.1 | 2.6% | 1.9% | 6.9% | 40.7% |
| 2018 | 553.7 | 54,123.6 | 555.5 | 54,295.7 | 2.0% | 2.0% | 6.5% | 38.9% |
| 2019 | 574.8 | 55,656.2 | 533.9 | 51,694.5 | 2.0% | 1.7% | 7.0% | 34.9% |
| 2020 | 569.1 | 54,830.0 | 547.1 | 52,706.3 | -2.2% | 0.7% | 8.5% | 39.2% |
| 2021 | 622.8 | 59,587.3 | 635.7 | 60,815.5 | 5.1% | 2.7% | 8.8% | 36.8% |
| 2022 | 684.5 | 63,877.4 | 603.9 | 56,361.4 | 2.6% | 7.2% | 7.6% | 33.5% |
| 2023 | 707.9 | 65,459.2 | 654.0 | 60,473.0 | -0.1% | 8.4% | 7.4% | 31.2% |
| 2024 | 738.2 | 67,666.3 | 693.2 | 63,533.9 | 2.1% | 3.5% | 7.3% | 28.8% |
| 2025 | 769.4 | 69,935.3 | 732.6 | 66,594.4 | 2.3% | 2.3% | 7.2% | 26.9% |
| 2026 | 799.2 | 72,080.3 | 769.9 | 69,435.1 | 1.9% | 2.0% | 7.2% | 25.5% |
| 2027 | 830.7 | 74,376.1 | 808.7 | 72,405.1 | 2.0% | 2.0% | 7.2% | 24.2% |
Sweden is an export-orientedmixed economy featuring a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilledlabor force. Timber,hydropower and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented towardforeign trade. Sweden's engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. Telecommunications, the automotive industry and the pharmaceutical industries are also of great importance. Agriculture accounts for 2 percent of GDP and employment. The armaments industry has a technologically highly advanced reputation.[49]
The 20 largest Sweden-registered companies by turnover as of 2013[update] wereVolvo,Ericsson,Vattenfall,Skanska,Hennes & Mauritz,Electrolux,Volvo Personvagnar,Preem,TeliaSonera,Sandvik,ICA,Atlas Copco,Nordea,Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget,Scania,Securitas,Nordstjernan,SKF,ABB Norden Holding, andSony Mobile Communications AB.[50]
Some 4.5 million residents are working, out of which around a third have a tertiary education. GDP per hour worked is the world's 9th-highest at US$31 in 2006, compared to US$22 in Spain and US$35 in United States.[51] According to the OECD, deregulation, globalization, and technology-sector growth have been key drivers of productivity.[51] GDP per hour worked is growing2+1⁄2 per cent a year for the economy as a whole and trade-terms-balanced productivity growth 2%.[51] Sweden is a world leader in privatized pensions, and pension-funding problems are small compared to many other Western European countries.[52] The Swedish labor market has become more flexible, but it still has some widely acknowledged problems.[51] The typical worker receives only 40% of their income after thetax wedge. The slowly declining overall taxation, 51% of GDP in 2007, is still nearly double of that in the United States or Ireland. Civil servants amount to a third of Swedish workforce, multiple times the proportion in many other countries. Overall, GDP growth has been fast since reforms in the early 1990s, especially in manufacturing.[53]
World Economic Forum 2012–2013 competitiveness index ranks Sweden 4th most competitive.[54] TheIndex of Economic Freedom 2012 ranks Sweden the 21st most free out of 179 countries, or 10th out of 43 European countries.[55] Sweden ranked 9th in the IMD Competitiveness Yearbook 2008, scoring high in private sector efficiency.[56] According to the book,The Flight of the Creative Class, by the U.S. urban studies, ProfessorRichard Florida ofUniversity of Toronto, Sweden is ranked as having the bestcreativity in Europe for business and is predicted to become a talent magnet for the world's most purposeful workers. The book compiled an index to measure the kind of creativity it claims is most useful to business – talent, technology and tolerance.[57] Sweden's investment intoresearch and development stood, in 2007, at over 3.5% of GDP. This is considerably higher than that of a number ofMEDCs, including the United States, and is the largest among the OECD members.[58]
Sweden rejected theEuro in areferendum in 2003, and Sweden maintains its own currency, theSwedish krona (SEK). The SwedishRiksbank – founded in 1668 and thus making it the oldest central bank in the world – is currently focusing on price stability with its inflation target of 2%. According toEconomic Survey of Sweden 2007 by OECD, the average inflation in Sweden has been one of the lowest among European countries since the mid-1990s, largely because of deregulation and quick utilization of globalization.[51]
The largest trade flows are with Germany, United States, Norway, United Kingdom, Denmark and Finland.
The Swedish economic picture has brightened significantly since the severerecession in the early 1990s. Growth has been strong in recent years, and even though the growth in the economy slackened between 2001 and 2003, the growth rate has picked up since with an average growth rate of 3.7% in the last three years. The long-run prospects for growth remain favorable. The inflation rate is low and stable, with projections for continued low levels over the next 2–3 years.[needs update]
Since the mid-1990s the export sector has been booming, acting as the main engine for economic growth. Swedish exports also have proven to be surprisingly robust. A marked shift in the structure of the exports, where services, the IT industry, and telecommunications have taken over from traditional industries such as steel, paper andpulp, has made the Swedish export sector less vulnerable to international fluctuations. However, at the same time the Swedish industry has received less money for its exports while the import prices have gone up. During the period 1995–2003 the export prices were reduced by 4% at the same time as the import prices climbed by 11%. The net effect is that the Swedish terms-of-trade fell 13%.[59]
By 2014, legislators, economists and the IMF were warning of a bubble with residential property prices soaring and the level of personal mortgage debt expanding. Household debt-to-income rose above 170% as the IMF called on legislators to consider zoning reform and other means of generating a greater supply of housing as demand was outstripping supply. By August 2014, 40% of home borrowers had interest-only loans while those that didn't were repaying principal at a rate that would take 100 years to fully repay.[60]
 | Parts of this article (those related to Government) need to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2016) |
Thegovernment budget has improved dramatically from a record deficit of more than 12% of GDP in 1993. In the last decade, from 1998 to present, the government has run a surplus every year, except for 2003 and 2004. The surplus for 2011 is expected to be 99 billion ($15b)kronor.[61] The new, strictbudget process with spending ceilings set by theRiksdag, and aconstitutional change to an independentCentral Bank, have greatly improved policy credibility.
From the perspective of longer-termfiscal sustainability, the long-awaited reform of old-age pensions entered into force in 1999. This entails a far more robust system vis-à-vis adversedemographic and economic trends, which should keep the ratio of total pension disbursements to the aggregate wage bill close to 20% in the decades ahead. Taken together, both fiscal consolidation and pension reform have brought public finances back on a sustainable footing. Gross public debt, which jumped from 43% of GDP in 1990 to 78% in 1994, stabilised around the middle of the 1990s and started to come down again more significantly beginning in 1999. In 2000 it fell below the key level of 60% and had declined to a level of 35% of GDP as of 2010.[62]
In 2022, the sector with the highest number of companies registered in Sweden was the services sector with 457,044 companies followed by finance,insurance, and real estate with 184,377 companies.[citation needed] Theconstruction sector is well-developed in Sweden, with significant development in the level ofsub-contracting within the industry since the 1980s.[63]
Current economic development reflects a quite remarkable improvement of the Swedish economy since the crisis in 1991–93, so that Sweden could easily qualify for membership in the third phase of theEconomic and Monetary Union of the European Union, adopting theeuro as its currency. In theory, by the rules of the EMU, Sweden is obliged to join, since the country has not obtained exception by any protocol or treaty (as opposed to Denmark and the United Kingdom). Nevertheless, the Swedish government decided in 1997 against joining the common currency from its start on 1 January 1999. This choice was implemented by exploiting a legal loophole, deliberately staying out of theEuropean Exchange Rate Mechanism.[64] This move is currently tolerated by theEuropean Central Bank, which however has warned that this would not be the case for newer EU members.[65]
In the first years of the twenty-first century, a majority for joining emerged in the governing Social Democratic party, although the question was subject of heated debate, with leading personalities in the party on both sides. On 14 September 2003, anational referendum was held on the euro. A 56% majority of Swedes rejected the common currency, while 42% voted in favour of it.[66]Currently no plans for a new referendum or parliamentary vote on the matter are being discussed, though it has been implied that another referendum may take place in around ten years.[67]
In contrast with most other European countries, Sweden maintained an unemployment rate around 2% or 3% of the work force throughout the 1980s.[68] This was, however, accompanied by high and accelerating inflation.[citation needed] It became evident that such low unemployment rates were not sustainable, and in the severe crisis of the early 1990s the rate increased to more than 8%. In 1996 the government set out a goal of reducing unemployment to 4% by 2000. During 2000 employment rose by 90,000 people, the greatest increase in 40 years, and the goal was reached in the autumn of 2000. The same autumn the government set out its new target: that 80% of the working age population will have a regular job by 2004. Some have expressed concern that meeting the employment target may come at a cost of too high a rate of wage increases hence increasing inflation. However, as of August 2006, roughly 5% of working age Swedes were unemployed, over the government-established goal. However, some of the people who cannot find work are put away in so-called "labour market political activities", referred to as "AMS-åtgärder".[69]
According toJan Edling, a former trade-unionist, the actual number of unemployed is far higher, and those figures are being suppressed by both the government and theSwedish Trade Union Confederation. In Edling's report he added that a further 3% of Swedes were occupied in state-organised job schemes, not in the private sector. He also claimed a further 700,000 Swedes are either on long-term sick leave or in early retirement. Edling asks how many of these people are in fact unemployed. According to his report, the "actual unemployment" rate hovers near 20%.[70] Some critics disagree with this concept of "actual" unemployment, also termed "broad unemployment", since they do not see e.g. students who rather want a job, people on sick leave and military conscripts as "unemployed".[71]
According to Swedish Statistics, unemployment in June 2013 was 9.1% in the general population and 29% amongst 15- to 25-year-olds.[72]
Around seventy percent of the Swedish labour force is unionised.[73][74] For mostunions there is a counterpart employer's organization for businesses. The unions and employer organisations are independent of both the government and political parties, although the largest confederation of unions, theNational Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions orLO (organisingblue-collar workers), maintains close links to one of the three major parties, theSocial Democrats.
Theunionisation rate amongwhite-collar workers is exceptionally high in Sweden – since 2008 higher than for blue-collar workers. In 2023, blue-collar density was 58%, and white-collar density was 73% (full-time students working part-time excluded).[75] Just before the considerably raised fees to union unemployment funds in January 2007, blue-collar and white-collar union density was the same (77% in 2006).[76][77] The average union density was 70% in the years 2011–2014, 69% in 2015-2017 and 68% in 2018 and 2019. There are two major confederations that organise professionals and other qualified employees: theSwedish Confederation of Professional Employees (Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation or TCO) and theSwedish Confederation of Professional Associations (Sveriges Akademikers Centralorganisation or SACO). They are both independent from Sweden's political parties and never endorse candidates for office in political elections.
There is nominimum wage that is required by legislation. Instead, minimum wage standards in different sectors are normally set by collective bargaining. About 90% of all workers are covered by collective agreements, in the private sector 83% (2018).[78][79] The high coverage of collective agreements is achieved despite the absence of state mechanisms extending collective agreements to whole industries or sectors. This reflects the dominance of self-regulation (regulation by the labour market parties themselves) over state regulation in Swedish industrial relations.[80][81]
Sweden has not joined the EMU (the Economic and Monetary Union / the Euro) and will not in the foreseeable future. When the issue was at the agenda, the Swedish union movement was very split.[82] In contrast to the very positive attitude of employers' associations, the union rank-and file opinion was so split that several unions, as well as the confederations LO, TCO and SACO, abstained from taking an official position.
The traditionally low wage differential has increased in recent years as a result of increased flexibility as the role of wage setting at the company level has strengthened somewhat. Still, Swedish unskilled employees are well paid while well educated Swedish employees are low-paid compared with those in competitor countries in Western Europe and the US. The average increases in real wages in recent years have been high by historical standards, in large part due to unforeseen price stability. Even so, nominal wages in recent years have been slightly above those in competitor countries. Thus, while private-sector wages rose by an average annual rate of 3.75% from 1998 to 2000 in Sweden, the comparable increase for the EU area was 1.75%. In the year 2000 the total labour force was around 4.4 million people.[71]
TheSwedish government has announced that it will privatise a number of wholly and partly state owned companies. "The income from these sales will be used to pay off the government debt and reduce the burden of debt for future generations. The Government's ambition was to sell companies to a value of SEK 200 billion during 2007–2010."[83]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Today, Sweden has a diverse and highly competitive and successful economy. The World Economic Forum ranks Sweden among the top ten most competitive countries in the world. Sweden is also one of the easiest countries in the world to do business with, according to the World Bank. A key feature of the Swedish economy is its openness and liberal approach to trade and doing business.
Most enterprises are privately owned and market-oriented, but when transfer payments—such as pensions, sick pay, and child allowances—are included, roughly three-fifths of gross domestic product (GDP) passes through the public sector. Education, health care, and child care costs are primarily met by taxation. Government involvement in the distribution of national income, however, diminished over the last two decades of the 20th century.
[...] Sweden considers its relatively self-sufficient defense industry to be a cornerstone of its neutrality policy. [...] Its arms industry is highly advanced technologically [...].
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)