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The Ghent system in transition: unions’ evolving role in Sweden’s multi-pillar unemployment benefit system

Author

Listed:
  • Jayeon Lindellee

    (Lund University, Sweden)

  • Tomas Berglund

    (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

This article discusses the multi-faceted and changing role played by trade unions in providing unemployment benefits in Sweden, a country using the so-called Ghent system. As an important institutional feature explaining the high rate of unionisation in the Nordics, the system has been much debated. This article provides a comprehensive account of the retrenchment of the state unemployment benefit system (UBS) and the development of occupational and private UBS pillars providing complementary protection. It also introduces an ongoing reform discussion where the social partners are proposed to govern the unemployment insurance system via collective agreements, while retaining the union-linked insurance funds. The core institutional feature of the Ghent system – voluntary membership of a union-linked insurance fund – is turning out to be highly resilient despite frequent attempts to weaken the union power stemming from it. However, the system’s role in providing unemployment protection has changed due to its development into a multi-pillar structure, meaning that its future prospects are uncertain.

Suggested Citation

  • Jayeon Lindellee & Tomas Berglund, 2022. "The Ghent system in transition: unions’ evolving role in Sweden’s multi-pillar unemployment benefit system," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(2), pages 211-227, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:28:y:2022:i:2:p:211-227
    DOI: 10.1177/10242589221080885
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kurt Vandaele, 2006. "A report from the homeland of the Ghent system: the relationship between unemployment and trade union membership in Belgium," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 12(4), pages 647-657, November.
    2. Egidio Riva & Roberto Rizza, 2021. "Who receives occupational welfare? The importance of skills across Europe’s diverse industrial relations regimes," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 97-112, February.
    3. Alison Johnston & Andreas Kornelakis & Costanza Rodriguez d’Acri, 2012. "Swords of justice in an age of retrenchment? The role of trade unions in welfare provision1," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(2), pages 213-224, May.
    4. Pertti Jokivuori, 2006. "Trade union density and unemployment insurance in Finland," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 12(1), pages 83-87, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jesper Prytz & Tomas Berglund, 2023. "Disruption of the Ghent effect: Disentangling structural and institutional determinants of union membership decline in Sweden, 2005–2010," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 471-494, November.
    2. Tomas Berglund & Torsten Müller & Tomas Berglund & Torsten Müller & Tomas Berglund & Torsten Müller, 2022. "Editorial and Introduction," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(2), pages 157-179, May.
    3. Thomas Klikauer, 2023. "Book Review: Re-Union – How Bold Labor Reforms Can Repair, Revitalize, and Reunite the United States," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(1), pages 157-160, February.
    4. Daniel Clegg & Elke Heins & Philip Rathgeb, 2022. "Unemployment benefit governance, trade unions and outsider protection in conservative welfare states," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(2), pages 195-210, May.

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