The municipality of Karlshamn recently submitted an application to the Swedish Public Employment Service to start its own municipal employment service.

This means that jobseekers who qualify for the Swedish Public Employment Service's project Rusta og matcha must be able to choose Karlshamn's municipality as a job broker.

The idea is that jobseekers should receive guidance and other initiatives that lead to jobs or studies.

And for which the municipality in that case receives compensation.

This is between SEK 20,300 and SEK 38,000 per participant, plus a daily allowance of between SEK 55 and SEK 90 per participant.

- Is it the case that we can receive compensation from the state when we get people into work, we want to test that possibility, says Valdemar Rusch, operations manager for the labor market in the municipality.

Valdemar Rusch is operations manager for the labor market at Karlshamn municipality.

Photo: Towe Olsson / SVT

The plans receive sharp criticism from several quarters

In Karlshamn, there are already nine private job placement actors.

Several are critical of the municipality's plans.

- A municipality is tax-financed, is not for-profit and cannot go bankrupt.

Here we do not compete on the same terms, says Patrik Hellberg, responsible for Hermod's labor market services.

He believes that the municipality's plans may lead to them having to close their operations in Karlshamn.

Almega: "It is unacceptable"

The employers' organization Almega agrees with the criticism.

- That the municipality with tax money behind it competes with private actors is unacceptable.

If the municipality wants to be attractive, they must strive for a good business climate and they do not give that signal when they act in this way, says Andreas Åström, head of business policy at Almega.

Valdemar Rusch at the municipality does not agree.

- We do not see it as a competitive relationship.

The high unemployment is a local and regional issue, we are happy to see that there are collaborations.

Hear Valdemar Rusch tell more about the municipality's plans in the clip above.