Economics

Swedish Employers Ready Defense of Labor Deal to Keep Wages Down

  • Workers are questioning the industrial wage benchmark
  • Slow wage gains have held inflation down in Swedish economy
Photographer: Mikael Sjoberg/Bloomberg
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Sweden’s main employer group is preparing to defend the key pillar of the Nordic country’s labor market against a brewing union wage rebellion.

The deal setting industrial workers salaries as a benchmark for overall wages is crucial in maintaining Sweden’s welfare state and is the envy of competitors, according to Fredrik Persson, chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.