| Summary: | During the 20th century Sweden faced an increased proportion of workers registered as part-time unemployed, especially in the care sector. However, due to many valuable efforts, aimed at solving the problem of part time unemployment and political decisions, the number of people who are part-time unemployed has declined since the late 20th century. We have investigated part-time workers preferential right to extending their working hours. According to Section 25 a of the Employment Protection Act, part-time employees who have submitted an interest in increasing their working hours has a preferential right to increased working hours, with the assumptions that full-time employment with the employer will meet a labor need that the employee has sufficient qualifications for. Qualitative interviews have given us information about how Karlstad Community and a private care company deal with part-time unemployment and their workers preferential right to extending their working hours. We have found that people who work for Karlstad Community have an opportunity to choose their number of workings hours, thanks to a political decision made in Karlstad Community, aimed at solving the part time unemployment in the care sector. It is important to point out that the decision only effect workers who are connected to the collective agreement between the union, Svenska Kommunalarbetareförbundet, and Karlstad Community. The private care company does not provide such a prospect. Instead it focuses on keeping its costs as low as possible, by only using the human resource when it is needed. Should part-time workers preferential right to increased working hours be strengthened through firmer legislation? Or should the social partners make further efforts to find solutions that cater for both employers’ and employees’ interests. Section 25 a of the Employment Protection Act is in our opinion, not an effective regulation in order to reach the goal with reducing part-time unemployment, since the intentions behind the Section have not been fully possible to realise. However, we do not believe that the workers right should be strengthened through legislation. Instead we would like the social partners to cooperate to a higher extent, in order to make collective agreements that suit different parts of the labor market. If the problem with part-time unemployment continues to exist, the society has to decide how determined it really is to eliminate the part-time unemployment.
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