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The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that the labour market situation can change
extremely rapidly when there is an unexpected exogenous shock to the economy. Even
though the transformation of the labour market as a result of the development of ICT
(Information Communication Technology) industries facilitates more-flexible
conditions, it is now more important than ever for EU Member States to improve the
functioning of their labour markets. Member States need to increase possibilities for
training and retraining throughout peoples’ working lives in order to smooth the
transformation into a digital world of work.

This paper studies the perceived difficulty of recruiting scarce competences to rural regions. Furthermore, the role of policy in facilitating and enhancing recruitment to and better skills matching in rural regions is discussed. Based on a survey targeted to the business sections in Swedish municipalities, the results show that recruitment is perceived to be difficult in both rural and non-rural regions. However, recruitment problems in the public sector are more pronounced in rural municipalities. Nevertheless, recruitment to the public and business sectors are perceived to be equally difficult in rural regions. Both rural municipalities and non-rural municipalities state that the difficulty of recruiting the right skills results in a lack of skills matching and constitutes an obstacle to growth. Which policies can help remedy recruitment problems in rural regions? The pecuniary incentive of writing off student debt is perceived to be the most promising policy, but respondents also believe that non-pecuniary support such as relocation support for accompanying persons and tandem recruitment should be implemented to a greater extent. Finally, the need for flexibility and policies that can be adapted to the regional demand for labour are stressed. This regards for example the adaption of education programmes to local needs and rules and regulations.

Sammanfattning:
Medarbetaravtal är en ovanlig kollektivavtalsform där särskilda krav ställs på samarbete mellan tjänstemannafacken och arbetarfacken eftersom avtalet tecknas gemensamt. Det saknas idag kunskap om effekterna av kollektivavtal generellt och medarbetaravtal i synnerhet. Parterna inom pappers- och massaindustrin tecknade 1996 medarbetaravtal vilket möjliggör en jämförelse på branschnivå. Med hjälp av syntetiska kontrollgrupper undersöker vi hur arbetskraftskostnad och produktivitet påverkas av den unika kollektivavtalslösningen. I rapporten kommer vi fram till att det i dagsläget är svårt att visa på några tydliga effekter vilket inte är helt förvånande med tanke på hur medarbetaravtalen som finns är utformade. Mer kunskap kring de ekonomiska effekterna av olika typer av kollektivavtal är en förutsättning för informerad diskussion kring framtidens kollektivavtal. Det krävs ytterligare studier i de fall ett mer renodlat medarbetaravtal skulle tecknas i framtiden.