Don't try this at home! Exporting Sweden´s neoliberal welfare experiment.

What was once seen as a showcase example of a socialdemocratic welfare state has become a playground for for-profit welfare companies through outsourcing, privatisation and the introduction of voucher systems, explain Lisa Pelling and Mia Laurén in this report entitled "Don't try this at home". Now the  same Swedish for-profit welfare companies want to expand their business – particularly to Germany.

Tax-funded childcare, employment services, health care and schools, are now partly or mostly run by private companies, often part of large multinational corporations.  The welfare functions are still funded by taxpayers' money - so in order to maximise profits, they often compromise on the quality of the service. This has already led to increased segregation in schools, housing and healthcare, favouring those with higher socio-economic status. At the same time, working conditions in these, often female dominated sectors, have deteriorated.

Public opinion has been strongly opposed to private for-profit actors. Seventy per cent agree that ‘profits should not be allowed in tax-funded health care and education’. Only 15 per cent would like to ‘increase the privatisation of health care’. Several providers have already expanded their business internationally/outside Sweden, some as far as Germany, which is seen as a promising new market.

The authors urge Germany to be very careful about allowing these actors to become part of the German welfare system: 'Sweden has had to learn the hard way that once services have been privatised, it is difficult, costly and time-consuming for society to regain control. It is high time to caution the German public and in particular German progressives: Don’t try this kind of reckless privatisation at home!