The government plans to raise the wage floor from today's 13,000 to the Swedish median wage, around 33,000 kroner, so that a work permit can be granted to someone outside the EU.

Something that will affect industries where the average salary is significantly lower, such as in cleaning, some healthcare professions and the restaurant industry.

- We need people at all levels: waiters, bartenders and chefs.

But the most difficult thing is chefs, because there is an incredibly large shortage overall – especially in the niche we are in, says restaurateur Kent Ly, who often recruits from abroad.

Today, a chef's salary is usually around 26,000, according to him.

If it is an important skill for your company, isn't a salary of SEK 33,000 worth it?

- We are willing to pay any amount, if the customers are too.

Because if we want to raise wages, we have to raise prices too.

The Minister of Migration: "I am convinced"

According to Svenskt Näringsliv, which is also critical of the government's plans, it is estimated that almost half of the companies that want to hire labor immigrants will be stopped if a wage floor on the same level as the proposal in the Tidövatalet is introduced.

At the same time, the hotel and restaurant union has long been critical of the fact that the rules for labor immigration made it too easy to exploit labor.

The Minister of Migration's greeting to Kent Ly and other worried restaurateurs is that there will still be an opportunity to bring in labor from the EU.

- And I am convinced that there are many here in Sweden who should be able to take the jobs that are available, says Maria Malmer Stenergard (M).

Exceptions must be negotiated

According to the Tidö agreement, the government must be able to make exceptions for certain professions, where the wage floor can be lower than around 33,000. Exactly which professions will be, and whether, for example, chefs will be exempted, remains to be seen.

This is also something that will have to be negotiated within the Time Cooperation, where above all the Liberals and the Sweden Democrats stand far apart.

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be enabled to play video

Read more about browser support

Berry pickers, kitchen and restaurant assistants and cleaners topped the low-skilled labor immigration to Sweden in 2022. Photo: TT