Swedish Public Employment Service faces hours-long phone queues amid criticism

The Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) continues to struggle with excessive wait times, with jobseekers reporting phone queues lasting up to four hours, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reports.

A teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, told SVT he had been unemployed for four years and recently waited four hours in a phone queue—only to be disconnected before reaching an official. The following day, he faced another multi-hour wait. “When you have four-hour phone queues, that’s nothing short of a system collapse. What normal person would find that acceptable?” he said.

The agency acknowledged that a March reorganisation had caused delays in some phone queues. “We’ve had some teething issues linked to that. In some queues during March, people have waited far too long, and that’s incredibly regrettable,” said Stefan Popovic, head of department at the Employment Service. He added that a technical limitation currently disconnects calls after four hours of waiting.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman (Justitieombudsmannen, JO) has repeatedly criticised the agency for poor accessibility. After seeing no improvement following a 2023 review, the JO launched a new investigation, issuing fresh criticism in May 2025 over persistent long wait times. Several jobseekers, who also requested anonymity, told SVT they had waited two to four hours on hold. One woman described the experience as “horrendous stress,” while another said they felt “deprioritised.”

When asked if the agency lacked sufficient staff, Popovic admitted there had been periods with too few caseworkers in certain queues. However, he claimed overall accessibility had improved compared to previous years. “We’ve taken a number of measures, which is why we now see significantly better accessibility. Last year’s average wait time was 41 minutes, and in March, we’re down to 24 minutes,” he said.