Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren and Hugo Lundqvist sink into each chair in the classroom at Lapland's high school in Gällivare. Wooden booths are set up around the room. The idea is that the students should practice situations that they may encounter in working life. In one of the booths, they must pretend to install an alarm.
- Before we are allowed to enter a booth like this, we study theory two or three weeks first. Then you can start relaxing, says Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren.
The choice of the electricity and energy program was simple. Both want to start work immediately.
- It is easy to get a job, especially up here there is a huge shortage of electricians. And then it's also very fun, I think, says Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren.
Most of the people they know from the program started working straight after school. According to the school, around 80 percent of the students get a job immediately after the electricity and energy program.
- The apprenticeship right after high school means that we quickly get a foothold in the various companies, says Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren.
Hugo Lundqvist thinks the same.
- Maybe I will study later in life, but right after school you want to work.
Last year, a record number of Swedish young people applied for a vocational program. The electricity and energy program increased the most, followed by the vehicle and transport program. In Gällivare, the minimum score to enter the electricity and energy program was 235 points, which was the highest of all programs at the upper secondary school last semester.
- It is grateful for the companies that then want to hire that the students are motivated to study and have high grades already when they apply, says their teacher Stefan Aspemo.
Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren and Hugo Lundqvist live in a municipality where many young people go out to work. Youth unemployment in Gällivare was down to 2.5 percent during August. In Norrbotten, the figure was 3.9 percent, lower than the national average of just under eight percent.
Stefan Aspemo himself went from a job in LKAB's mine to the world of school.
In a country where the so-called green transition is underway, where companies need electricians to build what they want to save the future, the need for labor is dire, he says.
- It is great that they quickly enter the labor market and the companies attract them early. But we try to keep them in school so that they get final grades.
He believes that the practical courses can help a municipality that is struggling with moving in. If young people get a job right after high school, it can lead to them wanting to stay in the town, says Stefan Aspemo.
And the wages are attractive.
- If they go to LKAB and Boliden, they have relatively high starting salaries. But they can earn upwards of SEK 50,000 a month if they work on a contract basis for private companies, he says and explains that it is then about getting paid for the amount of work you do rather than per hour.
The future feels bright, notes both teachers and students. AI's progress will probably have a hard time affecting students' future jobs.
- What the AI doesn't know is this little extra. What we have experienced in professional life, the risks at the workplace and customer contact. My work as a teacher, on the other hand, is perhaps a bit sloppy, says Stefan Aspemo.
Oskar Nordström Skans, professor of economics at Uppsala University, has researched the labor market, including the transition between school and working life. Right now the focus is on AI and the labor market.
In general, practical professions and those in the care sector are the professions on which AI will have the least impact, he believes.
- Jobs in programming and data have been most affected so far, especially for recent graduates.
The authority for youth and civil society affairs, MUCF, has investigated what young people think is important in working life. A social work environment, security and predictability weigh heavily. For many, the salary is also important.
Oskar Nordström Skans has also investigated how the social environment affects which jobs one applies for. He believes that children with more educated parents may be prepared to take more risks.
- If you are not so exposed to other people who have chosen to get an education, higher education can feel risky and uncertain.
He is positive that more young people are choosing vocational programs, but states that more people need to train in welfare professions to make the whole society function.
- Many municipalities, not least in northern Sweden, find it difficult to attract people from outside to come there. Then it is important that people locally, who have good grades, also choose to train for welfare professions such as teachers or pharmacists.
For Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren and Hugo Lundqvist, the future is clear - they are going to work.
- I want to earn some money. It would still have been fun to get one's own salary instead of living on CSN, which is not that much, says Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren.
Do you have any other dreams?
- Right now it's just work, that's the most important thing, says Hugo Lundqvist.
Alfred Martinsson Ahlgren nods.
- I feel the same.
