Arbetsförmedlingen’s proposal: Offices in Hässleholm, Bromölla and Östra Göinge will close. Office in Kristianstad will remain.

– Kristianstad will be one of the areas in Skåne that will remain. It’s the employer's proposal, says Mats Hartman, Head of the Job Centre in Kristianstad.

It is too early to say what this means for the approximately 110 employees. A total of 4 500 employees throughout Sweden will be laid off.

When several offices close, the Job Centre will expand its customer service via telephone and digitally.

In Broby, the Job Centre is open one day a week.

The politicians in Östra Göinge are very critical of the Job Centre wanting to close the office.

– The Job Centre does not prioritise municipalities with high unemployment. Instead, they choose to stay open in municipalities with the most inhabitants, says Municipal Commissioner Daniel Jönsson (M).

– Östra Göinge is the municipality that has taken in the most new arrivals in Skåne and has a high unemployment rate. Together with the local Job Centre we have worked hard to reduce unemployment. We risk losing that work now.

The Minister for Employment, Ylva Johansson (S), is critical of the fact that the Job Centre has already decided which offices should be closed. In a few weeks, the government will be ready with its assignment for the Job Centre.

– It will affect the way decisions are made on which offices will be closed and when they will close. But the Director-General has not taken my advice, she says.

The first offices will close at the beginning of next year.