Job and development guarantee: benefit and rules

What is the job and development guarantee?

The job and development guarantee (jobb- och utvecklingsgarantin) is a labour market programme at Arbetsförmedlingen, the Swedish Public Employment Service. It is for people who have been unemployed for a long time. You get measures that suit you, so that you find a job quickly.

The programme is normally full time. Arbetsförmedlingen decides whether you can get a place, and they contact you if it applies to you.

Who can take part?

You must be unemployed and registered as a job seeker with Arbetsförmedlingen. In addition, one of these must apply to you:

• You have been unemployed or taken part in a programme for the past 14 months in a row.
• You have received unemployment benefit for 200 or 300 days but do not meet an income requirement. You can take part when you have 22 benefit days left or fewer.
• You are a single parent of children under 18, work part time and have used 60 weeks or 14 months of unemployment benefit. You can be offered the programme after 56 weeks or 13 months.
• You have taken part in the introduction programme for the longest possible time.
• You have taken part in the job guarantee for young people for 15 months.
• You have been sentenced to prison and allowed to stay outside the institution, or you are conditionally released and have not completed one year of the probation period.

You plan the start with an employment officer, and the programme begins on that day at the earliest. You can get an interpreter if you need one.

What do you do in the programme?

Arbetsförmedlingen finds out which measures you need, supports you in following your action plan and follows up how it is going. You must also be active in your job search. Examples of measures:

• Work experience placement
• Work training
• Labour market training
• Studies at municipal adult education (komvux), a folk high school or a university
• Support and advice if you want to start a business
• Matching services, for example Prepare and Match (Rusta och matcha)

The programme can be part time if you are ill, have a disability, or work, study or are on parental leave part time. An employer can also hire you with a new start job or an introductory job.

Benefit: activity support and 450 days

You apply for benefit from Försäkringskassan, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. The amount depends on whether you can get an amount based on your earlier income:

Income-based support falls step by step every hundred days. You apply the month after the programme. If you do so on the 1st to 7th you get the money the same month, usually on the 26th.

What changes in 2027

The government has decided on new rules for the programme. They take effect on 1 January and 1 March 2027.

From 1 January 2027

The rules for when you are discharged to stay at home with a child change. You are discharged if you are away full time to care for a child who has not turned one. If the child has turned one, this applies if you are away full time with parental benefit.

From 1 March 2027

• Training within the programme. If you have a short education and are not judged able to be matched to a job, you must take part in training within the programme. This can be labour market training, municipal adult education at basic or upper secondary level, or equivalent studies at a folk high school that has offered you a place. The government calls this an education obligation (utbildningsplikt).
• A broader assessment. Arbetsförmedlingen must map your education, your work experience, your need for training and other measures, and your ability to take part.
• Studies without discharge. The rule that you are discharged when you start full-time studies at municipal adult education or a folk high school as part of the programme is no longer in the new text.

In March 2026, about 35,000 participants lacked upper secondary education, according to the government. Ask your employment officer what the rules mean for you.

Leave, illness and the activity report

• Holiday. You cannot take holiday, but you can get leave in special cases for at most three days.
• Temporary break. You can get a break of at most 20 days in a twelve-month period without your benefit being affected. Arbetsförmedlingen must approve it before you are away, and you must keep looking for work and send in your activity report.
• Illness. Report sick on the very first day to keep your benefit.
• Activity report. It must be sent in every month, between the 1st and the 14th, even if you have nothing to report.
• Warnings. If you neglect your job search you first get a warning. After that your benefit stops for 1, 5, 10 and finally 45 days.

What happened to phase 3?

The programme used to be divided into phases. The last one was called phase 3 (fas 3) and later the employment phase (sysselsättningsfasen). The phases were abolished in 2016, so there is no phase 3 today.

The programme remains, but you no longer go through different phases. If you find older texts about phase 1, phase 2 or phase 3, they no longer apply.

When do you leave the programme?

Arbetsförmedlingen discharges you from the programme if one of these happens:

• You start working full time, with or without support.
• You start studies that do not give activity support or development allowance.
• You go on full-time parental leave.
• You are ill full time for more than 30 days in a row and the programme cannot be adapted.
• You cannot take part because of another obstacle that Arbetsförmedlingen accepts.
• Arbetsförmedlingen judges that you can meet an income requirement at an a-kassa.
• You reach the age for guarantee pension. You are discharged the month before.

If you want to come back after a break, log in to My Pages and tell them, or call if you do not have an e-ID. In some cases you can come back if the break has lasted at most one year, or at most three years if you were discharged to study.

Prepare and Match while you take part

Prepare and Match is one of the matching services that can be part of the programme. Arbetsförmedlingen decides whether you take part. If you are referred, you get a personal coach at the provider you choose, and the coach helps you with your job search.

We are a provider of Prepare and Match on behalf of Arbetsförmedlingen in Gothenburg. Read more about how Prepare and Match works or how to choose us.

Written by Ajdin KurbegovicCo-founder, operations manager and job coach at Swefleet

We are a provider of Prepare and Match on behalf of Arbetsförmedlingen in Gothenburg. The text is based on the sources below and was updated on 31 October 2026. Rules can change, so always check your own case with Arbetsförmedlingen or Försäkringskassan.