Updated 08.58 | Published 08.51
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SKELLEFTEÅ. Despite the fact that youth unemployment has long been low in Skellefteå, young people previously chose to leave here.
But now more and more are staying.
– New York was super cool, but I want to live in Skellefteå, says Filippa Andersson, 22.
Filippa, 22, compares Skellefteå with New York
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The house stands out in town. Built in wood and large windows.
Here, luxury restaurants and spa hotels coexist with a library and concert hall.
– I love Sara cultural center. It’s so good that you don’t have to go to Stockholm or Umeå anymore to go to concerts. It feels like it was in connection with the inauguration of the cultural center that the city began to grow. It opened new places. Now we even have boba tea here, says Filippa Andersson, 22, who is sitting on the cultural staircase in the large entrance where the ceiling height is breathtaking.
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full screen”New York was super cool, but it’s in Skellefteå that I want to live.” Filippa Andersson, 22, and Hanna Sundh, 22, both intend to live in Skellefteå when they start a family. Photo: Lotte Fernvall
Filippa Andersson is part of the new trend. The one that many people talk about here in town. That young Skellefteå residents stay in the municipality instead of moving. After graduation, she had the same plan as many others – see the world and move to the big city.
– Then I thought: “I’m not coming back”. Not because I didn’t like Skellefteå, but more because I was so hungry for everything else that was out there in the world.
There was a move to New York and an au pair job.
– It was super cool, really. But it was quite a contrast to what I was used to. I thought Stockholm was a huge city and then I came to New York. There was so much to do, there were so many people, says Filippa Andersson.
Sleep with earplugs
She experienced a stress. Don’t be used to having people and honking cars around you all the time.
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full screen”Now I don’t have to go to Stockholm to go to a concert. The dream is that Harry Styles or Iron Maiden will come here to Sara culture house”, says Filippa Andersson. Photo: Lotte Fernvall
– It was just putting earplugs deep into the brain to even be able to sleep. There were almost too many new impressions. So it was quite nice to come home again.
Are there any similarities then, between New York and Skellefteå?
– Well, the thing about nobody really caring about what you do or how you look, but you are accepted for who you are. And that everyone greets each other.
Earn extra as an influencer – recognized in Bali
At home in Skellefteå, she noticed that the town had been filled with people. A lease could not be obtained. Filippa Andersson had to live at home with her parents, which she told about in SVT and TV4.
– There was a serious housing shortage in connection with Northvolt. Before, it wouldn’t have been that difficult at all, says Filippa Andersson.
At the same time, the prices of condominiums had increased sharply in the city. In a report from Riksbyggen at the end of 2022, there was “a serious housing shortage in Skellefteå”, over half of the 20-30 year olds could not afford to buy a house in the city.
Filippa Andersson finally got a lease. Now she has a job at a bank and earns extra money as an influencer on Tiktok. There she has roughly 40,000 followers.
– It’s a bit sick – considering that there are more people than live in the entire city.
It happens that Filippa Andersson is recognized by people who follow her life through Tiktok.
– The sickest time was when I was in Bali.
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full screen”I rarely plan what to post. I just do without correcting the reality,” says Filippa Andersson about her Tiktok account from which she earns money. Photo: Lotte Fernvall
“Intending to stay here”
We head out into town and meet Filippa’s friends Hanna Sundh, 22, Sofia Hammarsten, 23 and Moa Hedman, 23. This weekend they had a “pulkamys” together and ate rice porridge. Tonight is the quiz. Today’s theme is the 2010s.
– It’s perfect for us! We know that music, we will win this, says Sofia Hammarsten.
She and the other friends also grew up in Skellefteå and have chosen to stay.
– I think that the fact that everyone was going to move out of here changed when we were in high school. It was only Filippa who pulled, says Hanna Sundh and continues:
– I definitely intend to live here when I have a family. It’s safe here, there are never shootings and things like you have in Stockholm, she says and the others nod in agreement.
– Now that you are an adult, you can be grateful for the calm, safe upbringing we had. You had to be a child, says Filippa Andersson.
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full screenSara cultural center Photo: Lotte Fernvall
No one has studied – everyone has a job
They each order a glass of white wine.
The quizmaster has problems with the printer, so the highlight of the evening is delayed. Meanwhile, the friends choose their team name – Ursvikingarna.
Here in Skellefteå, youth unemployment is not a problem. None of the four young women have had any problems finding work. Despite the fact that they have no post-secondary education. Now they work in schools, banks and in the port.
– It’s a small town. You often get a job thanks to contacts, it’s like someone is vouching for you, says Hanna Sundh.
– It is good that you get a chance to show what you are doing instead of the employer staring blindly at education. Many jobs are about how you are with people, says Filippa Andersson.
The quiz begins. The pep that was previously high at the table quickly drops. The quiz turns out to be about everything in the 2010s. Geography, NO, literature, history…
– I feel cheated. I was so hooked on the music quiz, says Filippa Andersson.
FACTSara cultural center
When you ask a resident of Skellefteå how they would describe the development that has taken place in the city since Northvolt told about its factory plans, almost everyone answers in unison: Sara cultural center!
Although the history of the house began much earlier than that.
As early as 2012, investigations into a new cultural center started. Years of dialogues with residents and associations followed. At the end of 2015, the decision was hammered out, an architectural competition began.
In the middle of 2018, the construction itself began and by the end of 2020 it was ready.
Now it is one of the world’s tallest wooden houses. About 80 meters high with 20 floors.
Contains six stages, library, two galleries, several restaurants and hotel.
Read more
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full screen The friends thought it was going to be a music quiz about the 2010s, but got completely different questions. “We didn’t win. After that, we decided to go and play shuffleboard instead,” says Filippa Andersson. Photo: Lotte Fernvall
FACT Document Skellefteå
arrow In 2017, it became clear that Northvolt would build a battery factory in Skellefteå. Northvolt’s area is now 150 hectares – like 300 football pitches or like three Gamla Stan.
arrow Northvolt’s establishment meant that the municipality greatly increased its investment and purchasing budget and that many other companies came to the municipality.
arrow The population of Skellefteå has increased from approximately 72,800 in 2017 to 78,647 inhabitants on 30 September 2024.
arrow Labor immigrants have arrived and young people have stayed. Housing prices and wages have skyrocketed.
arrow But last fall, Northvolt notified a thousand people, one of the subsidiaries went bankrupt. What happens to Skellefteå now?
arrow Aftonbladet’s Mariela Quintana Melin and Lotte Fernvall take you to a city in transformation.
Read more