Sweden needs 64,000 immigrants annually if it wants to prevent labour shortages from impeding economic growth, reports SVT Nyheter.

Sweden’s employment agency (Arbetsförmedlingen) director general Mikael Sjöberg has stated that a labour shortage will start to hurt Sweden’s growth as early as next year before becoming an increasing problem thereafter, as employers in the private and public sector struggle to find people with the right skills. He said that a decreasing local-born population means immigration will be needed to solve the shortage. The agency stated that part of the reason for Sweden’s situation is that the demand for goods and services has remained high as the country escaped relatively unscathed from the global economic crisis compared to other nations.