When Northvolt, long the shining star of Sweden’s green transition and northern tech boom, announced it would be laying off 1,600 workers, the industry was shocked but not surprised, as the company had been struggling financially for some time.
The magnitude of the situation was demonstrated by the government assembling a “Northvolt crisis group” and the Swedish Migration Agency issuing a rare statement to say it was in talks with the company to discuss the impact on work permit holders.
Many work permit holders will be directly affected, although it's not yet clear exactly who.
Around 2,200 Northvolt employees, including 616 white collar workers in Skellefteå, 323 in Västerås and 140 in Stockholm, are in Sweden on work permits, Sveriges ingenjörer, the union representing workers in engineering, confirmed to The Local.
Those among them who are let go will have no more than three months to find new jobs after their notice period ends – or risk losing their permit and right to stay in Sweden.
Three months is half of what Denmark and Norway offer, and offers little chance at securing new employment, especially in a sluggish tech and construction market.
The exact notice periods will vary depending on people’s contract and length of employment, with those still in their probation period likely having next to none.
When The Local asked Northvolt if it had any plans to extend the notice period, a communications manager didn’t answer the question, but told us only that Northvolt would provide “additional support to employees on work visas, and their families”.
I’ve seen many calls for the state to step in and help Northvolt (the government has said it won’t consider financial aid), but not enough calls for it to protect those whose lives in Sweden are now at risk. But after a series of layoffs in industries that employ a lot of foreigners with key skills, now culminating with Northvolt, it’s time to take action.
If the government is serious about its plans to attract and retain foreign talent, Sweden needs to urgently extend the three months jobless work permit holders are allowed to stay, even if it’s only temporarily as a kind of emergency break in an acute situation.
There is an EU directive that says that work permit holders who have been here for at least two years should get to stay for six months if they lose their job, but member states have until 2026 to introduce that, so it’s not going to help anyone right now.
Even if foreign talent can find new opportunities in Sweden, the job market is hard to navigate, the hiring process is slow, and three months are in most cases just not enough. For many highly qualified workers, leaving becomes an easier option.
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When I asked Heléne Robson, chief lawyer of Sveriges ingenjörer, whether Sweden should extend the three-month deadline, she said: “On a personal basis, I think so. I think it’s reasonable to have it harmonised with our neighbour countries. It’s sensible.”
She also called on the government to try to retain the people who have already set up lives in Sweden and have the skills that the country sorely needs. “Attract this competence back to Sweden (...) the people that have been willing to move here and actually have the right competence for our industry. Don’t waste that,” she said.
(I interviewed Robson for The Local’s Sweden in Focus podcast, which will be out this Saturday – or Friday for Membership+ subscribers – about what the union is doing to help its members, especially foreign members, navigate the layoffs at Northvolt.)
When I posted the suggestion to extend the three-month deadline on LinkedIn, support was overwhelming from foreign residents who had experienced the stress of layoffs, and some who had been forced to leave the country because of them.
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As The Local has previously reported, we’re already seeing signs of a talent exodus. Redundancies like Northvolt will not only impact those of its employees already here, but could affect their and Sweden’s ability to recruit future foreign talent, unless the government is able to show that it provides a safety net for those who take the leap. The tech sector won't bounce back without them.
Foreign talent is not a commodity that countries can add to and subtract from on a whim. If people stop believing in Sweden as a country where it’s possible to build a strong and secure future, they’ll stop coming. And it will be hard to win them back.
Extending the three-month deadline would help laid-off workers keep their lives here, make Sweden competitive and aligned with our Scandinavian neighbours, and retain crucial talent that’s hard to come by and easily lost.
EDITOR'S NOTE: After publishing this article, a spokesperson for the migration minister answered our request for a comment. She said that extending the three-month deadline "is at present not something that the government is considering, but we are following developments closely".
Are you affected by the layoffs at Northvolt? Email The Local's editor at emma.lofgren@thelocal.com to share your story with us. You can be anonymous in any article we write and we will never disclose your identity against your wishes.
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