The Moral Economy of Swedish Labour Market Co-operation and Job Security in the Neoliberal Era

Abstract: In the neoliberal era, there has been a global trend towards increased labour market insecurity and inequality, even in countries traditionally emblematic of union strength and socio-economic security such as Sweden. In this study, I present the first ethnographic research conducted in anthropology of negotiations between the central Swedish union and employer peak bodies (known as the ‘labour market partners’). These negotiations were conducted in 2020 against the background of a political crisis and political pressure to modernise and liberalise longstanding and fundamental job security protec- tions in the Employment Protection Act (LAS). Through the lens of these negotiations, I investigate the role of the labour market partners in moderating neoliberal trends and how the partners see their relationship and role in society. I investigate, for example, why Swedish employers support unions and a system that ostensibly curbs their own power. I employ the notions of moral economy and em- bedding to look beyond economic self-interest, to the moral and institutional norms that help explain the partners’ co-operation over time and the role they see themselves as playing as guardians of the social peace.  I also incorporate interview material describing diverse workers’ experiences of the current job security protections under LAS. I argue that workers’ voices and experiences reveal a parallel moral economy, where current job security protections are revealed to be important but inadequate, and that job security is a highly nebulous, ambivalent and contextual phenomenon. I argue the moral economy of job security is one of entangled reciprocity between employer, worker and the state, and I consider the proposed reforms in this context. The study shows that even in the context of increasing market- isation of labour and society, reciprocity and cooperation both at the workplace and during the LAS negotiations serve to de-commodify labour and embed the economy in various moral norms. In this way, the research contributes to the anthropological literature on embeddedness and moral economy. It also contributes to both an ethnographic and theoretical understanding of job security.