Assessment and recommendations

According to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills 34% of workers in Sweden are employed in a field which is not related to their studies (e.g. field of study mismatch) and 39% are mismatched by qualifications (i.e. having either higher or lower education than required by their jobs). Around 11% of workers are mismatched by skills, being either more or less proficient in literacy than what is required by their job. Despite overqualification and over-skilling being an issue in Sweden, around 33% of firms claim to face difficulties in filling their vacancies due to the lack of workers with adequate skills. Wage pressures are also emerging in sectors requiring high skills. In parallel, the integration of migrants and asylum seekers’ skills poses fundamental challenges in terms of adapting these skills to Sweden’s knowledge intensive labour market.