PublikationArtikel (med peer review)

Recruitment of scarce competences to rural regions: Policy perspectives

Sammanfattning

This paper studies the perceived difficulty of recruiting scarce competencies 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 of Swedish municipalities, the results show that recruitment is perceived to be difficult in both rural and nonrural regions and that the difficulty of recruiting for the right skills results in a lack of skills matching and constitutes an obstacle to growth. Rural regions located close to urban areas can to some extent mitigate these recruitment problems, and their locations pose less of a barrier in recruitment processes compared to those of remotely located rural regions.

Which policies can help remedy recruitment problems faced in rural regions? In both rural and nonrural regions, incentives for writing off student debt and relocation support for accompanying persons and tandem recruitment are perceived to be the most promising policies. Rural regions are more receptive to the implementation of such policies. Finally, the need for flexibility and policies that can be adapted to the regional demand for labour are stressed.

Nyström, K. Recruitment of scarce competences to rural regions: Policy perspectives. Rev Reg Res (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10037-021-00155-

Liknande innehåll

Working paper

Ratio Working Paper No. 392: Shortening the path — from the host organisation’s side: A demand-side study of internship matching for foreign-born academics

Stern, C. & Allstrin, S.

Publiceringsår

2026

Publicerat i

Ratio Working Paper Series.

Sammanfattning

Many high-income labour markets combine persistent skills shortages with the underemployment of foreign-born academics, whose qualifications and experience tend to yield a lower return after migration. Work-based internships are a common policy response, expected to help migrants rebuild context-specific human capital, improve host-country language, and access the informal networks through which much hiring occurs. Yet the evidence base is almost entirely supply-side: it examines what internships do for interns, while the organisations that must agree to host them remain largely unstudied. What makes a placement work from the employer’s point of view is therefore poorly understood. Drawing on human capital theory, we address this gap through semi-structured interviews with managers and supervisors at 24 Swedish organisations that had hosted one or more foreign-born academic interns through the national programme Korta vägen (“the academic fast track”). Using inductive thematic analysis, we identify factors operating at three levels — individual, organisational, and institutional — that shape how well an intern’s human capital can be put to use. Education quality is less salient to hosts than the literature would predict; language matters chiefly as a vehicle for social integration; cultural friction is workable when expectations are made explicit; and institutional rules around credentials and licensing constrain placement quality in regulated professions. Hosts also report substantial, sometimes unanticipated, organisational gains. We argue that demand-side evidence requires human capital theory to be broadened to incorporate language, culture, and social capital if it is to explain matching.

Working paper

Ratio Working Paper No. 391: From Demographic Dividend to Demographic Drag: Fertility Decline and Long-Run Economic Performance

Hansson, Å. & Lundberg, K.

Publiceringsår

2026

Publicerat i

Ratio Working Paper Series.

Sammanfattning

Declining fertility is reshaping the demographic outlook of advanced economies, yet its long-run macroeconomic consequences remain poorly understood. Using a dynamic microsimulation model calibrated to the Swedish economy, this paper examines how alternative fertility and migration scenarios affect population dynamics, dependency ratios, GDP, GDP per capita, and economic growth between 2025 and 2100. We find that lower fertility initially raises GDP per capita through a temporary demographic dividend, but these gains are eventually offset by population ageing, a shrinking labour force, and slower economic growth. Under current fertility rates, GDP in 2100 is projected to be around 13 percent lower than under a stable demographic scenario, while lower fertility combined with lower migration reduces GDP to less than half that level. The findings highlight the importance of demographic structure for long-run economic prosperity and sustainable public finances.

Bok

Frihetens förgänglighet – fem teorier om hot mot det fria samhällets institutioner

Moberg, E.

Publiceringsår

2004

Publicerat i

Sammanfattning

Från mitten av 1800-talet till mitten av 1900-talet var Sverige ett av världens mest liberala länder. Genom en rad reformer avreglerades ekonomin och samhället samtidigt som skatterna sänktes och rättsstaten stärktes. Demokrati infördes. Det civila samhället och företagsamheten blomstrade. Under samma period var Sverige också ett av världens mest snabbväxande länder. Därefter tycks utvecklingen ha förbytts till sin motsats.

I Frihetens förgänglighet – fem teorier om hot mot det fria samhällets institutioner beskriver, jämför och analyserar Erik Moberg ett antal samhälleliga processer som långsiktigt undergräver det fria samhället och dess institutioner. Analysen har en vidare tillämpning än Sverige men torde i högsta grad vara relevant för förståelsen av vårt eget samhälle. De fem teorier som analyseras har utvecklats av Friedrich Hayek, Karl Marx, Ludwig von Mises, Mancur Olson och Joseph Schumpeter.

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