Fredrik Holmgren is lining up numbers when we meet him in the town hall in Örnsköldsvik; Unemployment is below five per cent and has not been this low for 15 years, bankruptcies have fallen by a quarter since last year.
"We have one of the country's most stable labour markets, and it will grow and remain at a high level.
The problem to be solved is to find enough labour to meet the demand.
Do you need to start moving to Ö-vik?
"Yes, we are far from self-sufficient," he says.
Struggle for manpower
To top it all off, there is competition for labor on several fronts. Partly from municipalities such as Skellefteå, where Northvolt's new battery factory has led to an overheated labour market, and partly from a local struggle for labour when BAE Hägglund's expansion leaves staff gaps at the subcontractors.