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by means of increased vocational practice. Recurrent education is another possibility in this connection. Legislation entitling the individual to leave of absence from his or her employment in order to study is at present being drafted by the Government.

Reference has been made above to a number of sectors in which changes may be required in order to achieve better adjustment in the labour market. One of the prerequisites of this adjustment is to eliminate the traditional segrega tion of male and female occupations and tasks and to abolish various employment obstacles and impediments to equal working conditions.

The experts should make it their task to provide a general assessment of the measures needed in order to transform working life to suit individual requirements. Consideration should be given to suitable measures whereby firms and administrative authorities can be encouraged in their recruitment and internal personnel policy to contribute towards the realization of the social and economic target of providing constant employment, not only for the most attractive personnel but also for those whose position in the labour market is more vulnerable as things stand. The need here is for guidelines for the systematic elimination of various types of impediments to employment, thus increasing the supply of labour and at the same time bringing labour demand more closely into line with individual aptitudes and requirements.

y. Employment policy

its planning and organization

In the course of present-day social planning, employment is touched on in a variety of contexts.

Every five years the Economic Department of the Ministry of Finance presents a long-term survey looking five years ahead and also reviewing the prospects for a longer period of time. The last two of these Long-Term Surveys have been

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recomputed and updated after two years of the five-year planning period. The Long-Term Survey can be regarded as information to various economic decision makers concerning the view taken by other units within the existing system of the future and of the problems of balance thus occasioned.

In the course of regional development planning as currently exemplified by provincial Planning 1974 - employment problems are analysed at regional and local level. Assessments are made by Provincial administrations, county councils, municipalities and trade union organizations. This material is collated to provide the basis on which decisions concerning regional policy are taken by the Riksdag. Provincial Planning forms the principal basis of the programme of regional policy adopted by the Riksdag in 1972.

Municipal economic planning is presented with reference to five-year periods in Municipal Long-Term Economic Planning (S. abbreviation, KELP). As from 1973, an account is also given of the increased employment in connection with municipal activities resulting from long-term economic planning. Municipal housing programmes, based on the same general assumptions as KELP, are also important in this connection. Long-term economic planning is also undertaken at county council level (IZELP).

Comprehensive survey activities are conducted by the Ministry of Industry with a view to providing a basis for future energy policy. The surveys concern both industry as a whole and individual branches. The Industrial Structure Survey describes among other things the development of employment, productivity, investments, profitability and research and development both totally and with reference to specific branches of industry. The various branches for which special investigations are made include the computer industry, the refining industry, the petro-chemical industry, the iron and steel industry, the paper and pulp industry, the wood processing industry, the textile and clothing

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industry and the food manufacturing industry. In the case of certain industries, such as shipbuilding, continuous information systems have been introduced whereby continuous observation can be maintained of developments concerning e.g. investments, capacity, finance and employment.

The system of information between the economy and society in general, established on April 1, 1973, may come to influence the planning of omplyment. In this way the provincial administrations will be supplied twice yearly with information concerning imminent personnel changes etc. within individual firms.

The Long-Term Survey and the planning of regional development can be regarded basically as two separate systems of information. The timetables for the 1975 Long-Term Survey and Provincial Planning 1974 permit an improved exchange of information between the two planning systems.

Models which can provide a basis for the improved integration of the long-term surveys and the planning of regional development and for the comparative assessment of the results of these two forms of planning have been presented e.g. by the Expert Group on Regional Studies (ERU) in a report entitled "Localities and Regional Collaboration" (SOU 1974:1). The development work now in progress for the Long-Term Survey is also designed to facilitate the mutual adjustment of the two planning systems. These activities will provide the experts with important points of departure for their own deliberations.

More efficacious planning will be needed in order for the ambitious employment policy outlined above to be practically implemented.

Planning with a view to the improvement of employment opportunities must be conducted at all administrative levels in society. The epxerts should consider the improvements which

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need to be made to existing long-term planning activities at municipal and national level and also with regard to the participation of commerce and industry in the planning process, so as to provide the basis for a long-term employment policy of the kind envisaged. In this connection the experts should also consider the forms to be assumed by active employment planning in local government and the means whereby increased co-operation can be established in this connection between national and local authorities. Any proposals regarding local government planning should be discussed by the experts together with the Royal Commissions of enquiry at present investigating local government activities.

Concerning the division of responsibility between the state, local government and commerce and industry, however, the direction of this policy and the design of the requisite instruments of policy must remain a central task of the national authorities. It must also be the responsibility of the state to manage the application of these instruments of policy in cases where major effects are involved on the total resources of the country. The question of the regional redistribution of employment opportunities in the country must also remain a concern of the national authorities.

The partial reform of the provincial administrations undertaken in 1971 has resulted in a better co-ordination at county level of measures with a bearing on regional developnent. Measures at national level are handled within different sectors by Government authorities within the frames determined by the Government and the Riksdag. The experts should consider how neasures in different sectors should be coordinated 30 at to provide more employment opportunities in state activities without sacrificing the demand for efficient and rational management. In this connection the Commission is to consult the Committee for Provincial Administration.

Local governments can influence economic development mainly by providing good conditions in the form of amenities,

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industrial sites etc. On the other hand they are not entitled to provide industry with assistance which can be rated as regional support. Municipalities and county councils are directly responsible for important sectors of employment. In 1972 they accounted for some 16 per cent of total employment in the country. It has already been made clear that most of the future increase in employment must occur within the public sector, not least in connection with local government activities. The Commission should elucidate the local government conditions attaching to a policy of this kind.

Although employment in the industrial sector may stagnate during the 1970s, the development of private, co-operative and public industrial enterprise will be of great importance to employment in the country as a whole and in different regions. It is the task of Government and Parliament to specify and influence the conditions attaching to this development. Moreover, as has already been made clear, firms must be made to accept greater responsibility for the implementation of the employment policy resolved on. This will entail a further development of the active economic policy introduced during the 1960s and of the subsequent reforms aimed at increasing the decisionmaking powers of the employees. It will be the task of the Commission to give closer consideration to the participation of commerce and industry in the practical implementation of employment policy and their responsibility for the same.

10. The Commission: forms of activity and reporting

With reference to what has already been said concerning the tasks of the Commission, it is important to note that the Government intends regularly to return to the Riksdag with assessments and proposals concerning the planning of employment policy. It should be emphasized that reforms in the field of employment policy will be continued and amplified while the work of the Commission is still in progress.

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