The Swedish Public Employment Service’s occupational barometer shows great opportunities for jobs in traditional engineering professions as well as in new fields of knowledge such as cyber security. Investments in nuclear power, for example, require more skilled people throughout the value chain.
Teknikföretagen has stated that more engineers are needed for the transition and future development of the industry. Several representatives of large technology companies have said the same, and both the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and the Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers have discussed the shortage of skilled labour.
At the same time, we are ready to expand our programmes in the shortage areas that have been identified. We can increase the number of students today and take our share of the responsibility for achieving the government’s target of 90,000 students in STEM.
Now is the time to increase the funding cap so that we can meet the demand for engineers. In our budget document we have clearly expressed the opportunities and ambitions to do more for the labour market. We can do it now, and Sweden needs it now. Therefore, the expansion to 90,000 students should be accelerated, for example in the next four to five years, so that Sweden does not fall behind in the transition