"It is not enough with just an encouragement-to-work policy. We need an encouragement-to-start-business policy", write Jan Carlzon and Anna-Stina Nordmark Nilsson of the Swedish Federation of Business
 Owners (Företagarna).

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A new study made by Swedish business research company Skop reveals that more than half of Swedes, 52 percent, answered yes when asked whether they would consider voting for a business-oriented party that primarily invests in better conditions and more jobs in small and medium-sized family businesses.

Clearly it can hardly be said that entrepreneurship is not just of interest to specialists and experts, but is of very broad public interest. There is, therefore, a great interest in, and support of, business issues across the country.

Mona Sahlin (leader of opposition Socialist Democrats), Fredrik Reinfeldt (Prime Minister) and others – now it is time to end the political rhetoric in which you attempt to group issues around entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs as just one interest among many, and as hardly more important than other interests.

The opposite is in fact true. A majority of Swedes understand that it is in the small and medium-sized businesses that employment opportunities, growth and prosperity are created. Only if they grow does the economy and as a consequence, society, grow and it becomes easier to meet other so-called special interests.

Growth in small business is no zero-sum game but more like a win-win situation. Only expanding companies can produce new jobs, new tax revenue and thus develop the public sector.

Interest in small business issues is spread across virtually the entire population and across all political party affiliations. 47 percent of LO (Swedish Trade Union Confederation ) members answered yes when asked whether they could see themselves voting for a business-oriented party that invests in small companies. The corresponding proportion among Saco (Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations) members is 33 percent.

Among the political parties' supporters, the proportion is highest in the Centre Party, with 71 percent saying that they would consider voting for such a party, but even among the Left Party’s supporters 23 percent said they would consider voting in this way.

We have no business-oriented party in Sweden, and we should not have one. But what we should have is more focus on entrepreneurship and enterprise culture. Job creation requires people who can, want to, and actually dare to employ people. This is needed as well as more growing businesses.

All parliamentary parties now claim to be friends of small businesses. But they appear to have difficulty in moving from words to deeds, especially when they are forced to drive over old ingrained ideological or media sacred cows.

The present government has pushed an encouragement-to-work rather than subsidy based line in Swedish politics. The government by emphasis on job tax allowances increased supply of labour in the country. But what has it done to stimulate entrepreneurs to actually take up that labour?

Effort is required to get more people into work so that employment in small business increases. Since the early 1990s, 328,000 new jobs in small businesses have been created. The corresponding figure for large enterprises and public sector is about 35,000.

As Sweden’s job creators, both historically and in the future, it is among the small businesses that the solution must exist. It is not enough with just an encouragement-to-work policy. We need an encouragement-to-start-business policy.

The three main issues in encouragement-to-start-business policy are:

• Sweden needs a lower tax burden
Reduce employer contributions drastically focussing on small businesses. Labour costs are the dominant cost, and determine to a large extent competitiveness and growth opportunities.

Owners Taxation is another key issue. The threat of the opposition reinstating property tax is therefore totally unacceptable.

• Sweden needs a more flexible labour market model

The transition to a knowledge-based economy with more small businesses and a rapidly growing service sector places high demands in allocating the right skills to the right place. The current model gives exactly the opposite effect: locking in those who have jobs and locking out those without. The best skills and not years-on-the-job must be allowed to steer.

• Sweden needs a simpler regulatory framework

A good business climate requires simple guidelines that support, not hinder. Entrepreneurs should not be burdened with bureaucracy, complicated rules and long delays in processing necessary permits. It is small enterprises that are most affected by regulatory burden. They rarely have personnel with special expertise in administration and small companies cannot afford to hire in consultants for all the necessary declaratory requirements.

The public has realised the importance of business issues. So should our politicians. Especially since the questions are not only vital for Sweden’s growth and prosperity in the long term - but also may help win the election in September.

Jan Carlzon
Chairman, Företagarna (Swedish Federation of Business Owners)

Anna-Stina Nordmark Nilsson

CEO, Företagarna (Swedish Federation of Business Owners)

Företagarna (Swedish Federation of Business Owners) creates better conditions for starting, running, developing, and owning a business in Sweden. The organisation's mission is to promote entrepreneurship, safeguard the rights of business owners, and contribute to conditions that make running a business easy and appealing. Företagarna is the largest organization for business owners in Sweden and represents some 70,000 entrepreneurs.