Luleå looks east for skills

Instead of attracting people from southern Sweden to the north, the largest council in Sweden’s Norrbotten county is now trying to fill jobs with people from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

The background is an analysis made by the Luleå Technical University school of business identifying Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are as the markets with the greatest potential to find the future residents of Luleå.

“It feels hopeful to have identified such clear markets to process,” said Eva Jonsson, a process manager for Luleå Council’s Kompetenslotsen (Competence Pilot).

The plans call for Luleå’s population to increase to 100,000 by 2040, which is necessary to meet the need for skills that the green transition entails. In addition to industry, fields like healthcare and education are facing labour shortages.

“It is clear that people in southern Sweden are much less likely to move than people from other parts of the Baltic Sea region. This is because people from southern Sweden unfortunately have an outdated image of northern Sweden, and Swedes in general are not particularly inclined to move after education,” said Erik Hagenrud, a business developer with LTU Business.

This is the first time a method for export analysis is used like this. The tool is usually used to identify potential export markets.

LTU Business has in its analysis examined where to find tomorrow’s Luleå residents based on various parameters such as migration flows, proportion of the working-age population, unemployment, cultural similarity and Sweden’s attractiveness. Residents from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania are at the top based on these parameters.

The European Social Fund and Region Norrbotten are co-financing a feasibility study on how to attract residents from these countries. Early next year, the project team will visit two regions in Poland.