Pär Nuder talked about three big challenges for the welfare of the future and outlined that the biggest and most important challenge is to make it attractive to work in the public sector.

“The public sector, in Western Europe in particular, is something that we can be very proud of.

But we cannot be satisfied. There is something fundamental that we have to change. There is an unspoken thought which still exists in the health care sector, in the school and in the social welfare sector.

That thought says that those who work with children, with old people and with the sick -predominantly women - that they should be grateful and not complain about the employment and salary terms in the public sector, which is substantially lower than in other professions.

What employment terms do we want the ones who take care of our most precious things in life* to have? What appreciation do those who carry out the welfare actually get?

I am convinced that the answers to these questions determine the future for social welfare.

If people turn their backs on jobs in the public service because they are not allowed to grow as human beings - also at the workplace - then the quality in the health care sector, in the schools and in the social welfare sector will diminish. Then those who can afford it will buy better schooling for their children, quicker health care service and safer social welfare. Then the public service will lose legitimacy. And then the tax revolt will come “as a letter in the post” (inevitable outcome).

The public service should deliver the best care for the best we have. It shall deliver a world class health care. It shall deliver security in the later years of those who have built this country.

But it is not a sector which should deliver. It is human beings - their involvement, their knowledge, their experiences.

Therefore the demands must be brought forward:

Everyone should be able to influence their working hours. Everyone should have the possibility to plan the work which should be carried out. Everyone should have good opportunities to avail of further training in their profession. Everyone should have the opportunity to make a career; from child day-care attendants and pre-school teachers to head of a pre-school or why not to become the municipality’s head of social welfare?

And above all: Everyone should feel that they get appreciation for their work.”

* Our children and our old age parents.

summary translation