85 is not enough! Where is the committment?

I got a mail from Brazil. Fabio, who is interested in immigrating to Sweden and who has been in contact with me before, has gotten a job offer in Karlsborg as a dentist. This is great for him and I am looking forward hearing how things work out for him and his family. I know that we desperately need doctors and dentist also in our region but somehow the recruitment here takes a longer time. With all the discussions in media regarding the difficulties of finding qualified people I wonder why we don’t see more international recruitment going on and why businesses do not look across the border in a larger extent. I guess many businesses do not see the job market as truly global but I think they would be surprised at what qualifications they could actually attract from abroad if they looked into the possibilities out there.

Our neighbor is in need of a programmer with specific skills and to help out Jochem has put an ad on a Dutch webpage aimed at people who wants to emigrate from the Netherlands. At this site employers from all over the world can advertise free of charge for skilled workers. I have no idea if this ad will lead to a successful recruitment and increase the population in Ulricehamn but it will be nice to see what happens. The municipality is currently involve in an emigration project together with 7 other municipalities and the project which is now at its 3rd year has been improving each year (higher educated people address us, less dreamers, people are devoted and studding Swedish etc.) However, I think we could bring it to another level and match the needs of our local businesses even better with the skilled individuals wanting to move here. I want to expand the project, involve more partners, more countries and get EU grants to help us in the process. However, at the moment I get positive feedback on the idea but no resources to put it into action so it keeps on being an idea! In short I think it has to do with ownership. Who is responsible for businesses finding skilled workers and for the growth (in human capital and in financial capital) of our region? All of us together (businesses, politicians, civil servants and inhabitants) but the task itself has no true owner.

The municipality of Ulricehamn grew with 85 inhabitants in 2010. That is not enough if we should reach the goal of 25 000 inhabitants in 2020. We need to get organized if we want to reach this goal and we need to set up targets and discuss ownership. Naturally it is easy to see that the municipality should be responsible for the master plan but it is also vital that we all feel committed to increase the inhabitants of this town and to see this place flourish and grow. Maybe Fabio from Brazil will find his way to Ulricehamn and a job as a dentist in our region or maybe we will see a Dutch programmer living out his dream in Gällstad one day.

And meanwhile I enjoy the days that slowly becomes longer and lighter, giving us the promises of a spring to come. Tomorrow Jenny, Jörgen and their 3 kids arrive to try out the skiing possibilities here and we look forward having them over!