Fishing occupies a small sector of the Swedish economy. Through international agreements, Sweden has lost some of its traditional fishing areas in the North Sea. Herring, cod, plaice, mackerel, and salmon are fished, as well as shrimp and lobster. Gothenburg is the leading fishing harbour and fish market.
Resources and power
Wood, metallic ores, and waterpower constitute the historical basis for Sweden’s industrial economy. The country is lacking in fossil fuels and must rely on imports for its needs. Hydroelectric power is used to a high degree but provides only about half of the electric energy needed; most of the rest is derived from nuclear power.
Sweden is well endowed with mineral resources. The huge state-owned iron ore deposits at Kiruna in Lappland were opened to export at the end of the 19th century. In the Boliden area of Norrland a wide range of metals, including gold, copper, lead, and zinc, are mined. The copper, silver, and iron ore deposits of central Sweden either have been largely exhausted or are unprofitable to extract.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is export-oriented and produces the bulk of Sweden’s export income. Nevertheless, the number of workers employed in private industry is smaller than the number of public employees.
Sweden is a major world exporter of forest products. Timber is transported via a dense road and rail network. Sawmills and pulp and paper factories process the forest products. Swedish manufacturers produce a variety of wood products, including paper, boards, and prefabricated houses and furniture. The pulp and paper industry developed originally at the mouths of rivers along the Gulf of Bothnia and Lake Väner. More recently, plants have been located on the coasts of southern Sweden.
Sweden’s metal industry still follows a pattern established during the days when waterpower and forestland (yielding charcoal fuel) determined the location of iron mills. The iron and steel industry is thus still largely found in the Bergslagen region of central Sweden. The iron and steel mills built in the 20th century, at Oxelösund and Luleå, are located on the coast.
Privately owned firms currently produce about nine-tenths of industrial output. Engineering, including the automotive industry, is by far the largest manufacturing industry, producing about half of industrial value added. The automotive and aerospace industries have their main plants in south-central Sweden. Swedish automakers Volvo and Saab enjoyed strong international reputations into the early 21st century (in 2011 Saab declared bankruptcy, but most of its assets were purchased by the start-up company Nartional Electric Vehicle Sweden [NEVS]).
The electric and electronics industry is concentrated in Stockholm and Västerås. Stockholm is a leading centre for the production of communications equipment. The small metal- and plastic-processing industries, with centres in the forested areas of southern Sweden, have, like the glassware industry, maintained their vitality through flexibility and continued creativity. Stenungsund on the west coast is a centre for the petrochemical industry. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are rapidly expanding fields, located near leading medical research centres. The construction sector and the food-processing industry also play increasingly important roles. Sweden also has an advanced war matériel industry. Finance
The Swedish banking system is dominated by a small number of major commercial banks. The bank of issue is the Swedish Central Bank, and the country’s currency is the Swedish krona. There also are savings banks, niche banks, and foreign banks active in Sweden. Trade
Exports account for about one-third of Sweden’s GDP. The emphasis has shifted from export of raw materials and semimanufactured products (pulp, steel, sawn wood) to finished goods, dominated by engineering products (cars, telecommunications equipment, hydroelectric power plant equipment) and, increasingly, high technology and chemical- and biotechnology. Together, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, and Denmark account for about two-fifths of Sweden’s export market.
Sweden: Major export destinationsEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Imports are more diversified than exports. Before the 1980s petroleum was the single most important import, accounting for more than one-fourth of the total value. In 1990 petroleum accounted for less than 5 percent of the total. Almost half comes from the import of engineering products (including motor vehicles, business machines, and computer equipment). Among the imported foodstuffs are coffee, tea, fruit, and fish. Chemicals and textiles are other groups of imported goods. Germany is the main supplier of Sweden’s imports, followed by the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Belgium.
Sweden: Major import sourcesEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Services
More than one-third of actively employed Swedes work in the service sector. Moreover, in the early 21st century, the export of services—including business services and technology consultancy services—was significantly greater than the export of goods. The tourist industry also plays an important role in the Swedish economy. Labour and taxation
Employment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing has declined since the mid-20th century. Employment in industry reached a peak in 1960, but the tertiary sector (including services and administration) has become the main growth area, with the expanding public sector one of its major components. However, an economic downturn in the 1990s resulted in the elimination of many of these jobs. About one-tenth of county and municipal jobs were lost in 1990–97; however, this trend has reversed somewhat in the early years of the 21st century, when more than one-fourth of the Swedish workforce was employed in the public sector. Private-sector production growth during the 1990s and early 2000s was largely due to increased employee hours worked and higher production per employee.
In order to address the problem of unemployment, the government made large investments in education and entrepreneurship. The public sector has played an important role in increasing productivity and participation in the workforce. Since the early 1990s there has been a push to encourage the full workforce participation of parents of preschoolers, by publicly funding preschool and child care resources. Working hours have increased, especially by women, and by the mid-2000s parents of young children had the same number of hours worked per week as other employees.
In Sweden three-fourths of working-age women participate in the workforce, a rate that is among the highest in the world. Sweden has among the lowest wage differentials in the world: women earn on average more than nine-tenths of full-time pay for men. However, only about two-thirds of working women have full-time jobs, while more than nine-tenths of working men do. Only a very small percentage of Swedish women are full-time homemakers.
Sweden is noted for its liberal employee benefit plans. The normal statutory workweek is 40 hours, but 37 hours per week is the de facto norm. The minimum amount of annual paid vacation is five weeks. In addition, there are other legal grounds for paid absence. Sweden is well known for its maternity and parental leave schemes that allow up to 13 months’ leave at about four-fifths of their pay. Employers pay additional fees of more than two-fifths of gross wages for statutory social benefits, including pensions. As of 1999, a new general pension system was introduced, which allowed individuals to invest a portion of their contribution while linking payments to general economic growth and cohort life-expectancy.
Sweden is highly unionized, with about four-fifths of all workers belonging to trade unions. Workers are organized into three main groups: the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees, and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations. Most private-sector employers belong to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, which was formed in 2001 after the merger of the Swedish Employers Confederation and the Federation of Swedish Industries.