V: Raise the ceiling in the unemployment fund

The Left Party wants to strengthen the unemployment fund. The proposal is to raise the ceiling and stop the compensation from being scaled down.

– We need to build security for those who lose their jobs, says party leader Nooshi Dadgostar.

On May 1, the Left Party presents eight points for a stronger social security fund.

The party’s goal is that at least 80 percent of wage earners should be able to receive an income of 80 percent of the salary if they become unemployed.

The outcome should be seen as a response to the government’s bill on a new social security fund, where the compensation in the social security fund must be more clearly scaled down in order to increase the drive to look for a job.

– The government has presented a dramatically deteriorated social security fund, says Nooshi Dadgostar at a press conference in Gothenburg.

Follow salary trends

She claims that the government’s proposal means deterioration for “almost all” wage earners, but most of all for those with the lowest incomes. The V leader warns of “a strong downward pressure” on Swedish wages.

– If you imagine that an average LO worker now receives an income reduction, if you are unemployed for a certain period, of SEK 10,000 a month – then that person will be forced to take a job at lower wages.

How much the ceiling should be raised and how much it would cost, the Left Party does not go into. The idea is to come back with clarifications when it is time to present the shadow budget this autumn.

– What we are presenting today is a number of principles, where we basically want to index the ceiling. It should follow the upward trend in wages, says Dadgostar.

Lower the work requirement

In addition to a raised ceiling, V also wants to lower the work requirement from six to four months, as well as calculate the compensation-based income for six months instead of twelve if it is more favorable for the unemployed.

– Having unemployment this high and locking people into unemployment in this way is, in the long run, extremely costly for a society. So fighting unemployment will be important, and we know according to modern research that a high social security fund is a tool to reduce unemployment, says Dadgostar.

Nooshi Dadgostar later today walks in the Left Party’s May Day train in Gothenburg, and then gives a speech in Gustav Adolfs torg.