Former Moderate prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, has criticised the work permit salary floor.
The Tidö parties have previously agreed to tighten the rules for work visas. The proposal stipulates that anyone coming to Sweden to work must, as a baseline, earn at least 29,680 kronor (currently about 80% of the median salary of 37,100 kronor), with plans to raise this requirement closer to the full median salary.
Now the Liberals want to withdraw from that agreement.
Minister for employment and integration, Johan Britz has expressed clear criticism of the government's labour market policy. He believes that the Sweden Democrats and the Moderates have gone "astray" on the issue of labour immigration and is also critical of the Social Democrats.
– They have all confused asylum immigration and labour immigration during the migration wave we had in the previous term. We are about to introduce measures that are not good for Sweden, he says.
The reason for Britz's stance now is, among other things, the criticism voiced by the business community and former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), who is now the chairman of the hospitality industry's trade organisation, Visita.
– Labour immigration is and should be a profitable business for Sweden. Companies and public employers have been very clear about the consequences they see if we proceed and take this next step. That is why we think it's time to pull the handbrake and simply not proceed, says Britz.
The problem, says Britz, is that a high salary floor will lead to labour shortages.
– It would make it very difficult for many companies and public employers to hire people from other countries that Sweden needs.
In late July, the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) and the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) presented a list of 152 shortage occupations that they believe must be exempt from the stricter salary requirements. Most are socially critical professions such as teachers, construction workers, and healthcare personnel.
At the same time, if the plans are implemented, for example, chefs and cleaners would need to earn 37,100 kronor per month to get a work permit in Sweden.
The idea is that the list will be regularly adjusted depending on which professions are in short supply. Britz calls the intended system "poorly designed."
– If you have a list of 152 exceptions, you will get a lot of problems with drawing the line. There will always be professions moving on and off the list, which of course creates great uncertainty for employers.
"It would make it very difficult for many companies and public employers to hire people from other countries that Sweden needs," says Britz.
The government has already significantly increased the salary requirement during the current term. Previously, a monthly salary of 13,000 to 14,000 kronor was enough to come to Sweden. Today the level is 29,680 kronor, which corresponds to 80% of the median salary.
Now, before the autumn budget is submitted, internal negotiations between the coalition parties will begin to implement the higher salary requirements according to the Tidö Agreement.
– We have made necessary changes. We have gone from a very low salary floor to a significantly higher one. Let us stop here and then evaluate. I am not opposed to us making adjustments to this, but then we must understand the consequences and what is best for Sweden, says Johan Britz.
Britz denies that the Tidö Agreement could collapse if this salary floor is not raised.
–There is no intention of violating any agreement; what we have agreed on, of course, applies. But we must also be able to adjust it when the real consequences of the proposals we have agreed on become clear. We think this is important so that we do not get stuck in ideological constraints.
The criticism Britz is raising concerns a policy that his own department is partly responsible for implementing.
– I am afraid that just because we have committed ourselves to a Tidö Agreement, we are locking ourselves into having to implement it. We must also be able to adjust as we go along, just as we have done on other issues.
Britz says that he has presented his criticism to the other coalition parties, and is aware it could create division.
– It could, but I think it is important that each party individually, but also together, continuously discusses what is the right policy for Sweden. I am afraid that the Sweden Democrats have ended up in an ideological stalemate here.
It is no secret that the coalition parties have had difficulty agreeing on the migration issue, says Britz:
– For the Liberals, low labour immigration is not an end in itself. We should welcome immigration that Sweden benefits from. That may not be the case for all the parties.