Swedish Public Employment Service's status report of the work with 'fast tracks'

More and more newly arrived immigrants in Sweden are participating in Snabbspår—'Fast Tracks' to employment in industries with labour shortages in Sweden. Since 2016, 3,540 people have started a Fast Track.

The Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) has published a new status report on the Fast Tracks program. Since the last evaluation in October 2016, 1,500 more participants have started the program. Now a total of 3,540 persons have participated in a Fast Track since 2016—1,072 women and 2,468 men.

Fast Tracks are programmes for labour market integration of newly arrived immigrants in industries with labour shortages. The Fast Tracks are the result of a tripartite negotiation between the state (the Swedish Public Employment Service), relevant trade unions, and employer organisations.

A Fast Track shortens the time between arriving in Sweden and working by combining early Swedish language training relevant for the professional area; early assessment of the experience, skills, and motivation of newly arrived immigrants; validation and assessment of education and professional skills according to industry-specific requirements; vocational and study guidance; and employment matching.

Since the previous status report by the Swedish Public Employment Service, the types of Fast Tracks have also increased. Today there are 14 Fast Tracks in 30 different professions—for example, social scientists and social workers, teachers and preschool teachers, chefs, and professions requiring registration in health and medical care.