The following provides a few statistics about the number of employees, the profit produced by the Swedish workers and the profit produced per worker of the largest employers in Sweden–often one of the idealized countries of the social-democratic left, where free public services are more extensive than in many other developed capitalist countries.
It can be found at the following site: The Twenty Largest Swedish Employers by the Number of Employees, Profit and Turnover (Revenue).
Please note that the specific employers, the order of employers and the statistics may be different from those indicated below since the website is occasionally updated. Between the time I started to work on this post and its posting, some of the employers had changed and so too had the numbers; I had to add some employers’ names and delete others as well as recalculate everything,
I will start with conclusions first and then proceed to the statistics and calculations on which the conclusions are based.
Conclusions First
The above workers in the last table, then, on average, produced $62,893 free of charge to the Swedish employers in one year. Sweden, despite greater access to free public services, is characterized by systemic exploitation of the working class. Furthermore, it is characterized by oppression of these workers even when workers are producing the equivalent of their own wage rather than producing a profit (or surplus value) for the employer (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation).
The purpose of the above is mainly to highlight that the social-democratic heaven of Sweden is hardly the heaven painted by social democrats or social reformers. In Sweden, like other capitalist countries, workers are used as means to obtain more money (see The Money Circuit of Capital). They are both exploited (perform more work than is necessary to produce the equivalent of their own wage), and they are oppressed (subject to the dictates of their employer–both when they produce the equivalent of their wage and when they produce a surplus value for free for the employer (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation).
The expansion of free public services and systematic exploitation of workers can go hand in hand. Social democrats, however, often present the expansion of free public services as the solution to the social problems that we face (see, for example, A Basic Income Versus the Expansion of Public Services? Part One: Critique of the Social-democratic Idea that the Expansion of Public Services is Socialist). However, the expansion of free public services could form part of the solution–if it is linked to a movement for the abolition of the power of the class of employers and not just as the solution to the problems we face.
Data on Swedish Employers
The Largest Employers in Sweden According to the Number of Employees
Company Number of employees 1
Securitas AB 302 055 2
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB 126 376 3
Ericsson, Telefon AB LM 94 503 4 Volvo, AB 93 731 5 Assa Abloy AB 48 992 6 Electrolux, AB 48 652 7 Scania CV AB 47 489 8 Scania AB 47 489 9 Essity AB 45 980 10 SKF, AB 41 559 11 Volvo Car AB 41 517 12 Sandvik AB 41 120 13 Atlas Copco AB 37 805 14 Skanska AB 34 756 15 Carl Bennet AB 28 825 16 PostNord AB 28 627 17 Loomis AB 24 895 18 ICA Gruppen AB 23 125 19 Trelleborg AB 22 952 20 Axel Johnson Holding AB 22 291
Some explanations are in order since some of the companies seem to be repeated.
- From Wikipedia: “The heavy truck and construction equipment conglomerate AB Volvo and Volvo Cars have been independent companies since AB Volvo sold Volvo Cars to the Ford Motor Company in 1999.”
- According to Prospectus Scania (1999): “The principal subsidiary of Scania AB is Scania CV AB. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scania AB and comprises all Scania operations outside Latin America.” Hence, it would seem that for the purposes of the statistics Scania CV AB and Scania AB are identical. That is why I included 21 companies–they ar
A further measure is according to profit on the same webpage: I modify it somewhat to make it more meaningful for Canadian workers.
The Largest Employers in Sweden According to the Amount of Profit
Company Net profit (×1000) SEK (SEK is the Swedish Krona or unit of money, around $0.14 Canadian, $0.11 US, $0.10 Euro-, 0.08 pounds, -so roughly divide by 7, 9, 10, or 12.5, respectively, to get a Canadian, US, Euro or pound equivalent), Net profit, billions of Canadian dollars (dividing net profit in kronas by 7 and x 1000) 1
Investor AB 102 650 000 $14.664286 2
Volvo, AB 46 832 000 $6.6690286
3
AstraZeneca AB 37 436 000 4 Industrivärden, AB 29 930 000 $4.275714 5 L E Lundbergföretagen AB 23 335 000 6 Kinnevik AB 21 573 000 7 Atlas Copco AB 21 572 000 8 Melker Schörling AB 20 013 000 9 Melker Schörling Tjänste AB 20 013 000 $2.859000 10 SCA, Svenska Cellulosa AB 19 539 000 11 Lundin Energy AB 18 885 500 12 Arrow AB 18 725 220 13 Vattenfall AB 18 322 000 14 H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB 17 391 000 15 Scania CV AB 16 476 000 16 Scania AB 16 476 000 17 Erik Selin Fastigheter AB 16 289 589 18 Assa Abloy AB 13 571 000 19 Volvo Car AB 13 168 000 20 Essity AB 13 040 000 $1.862857
If we combine the two tables and add some readily available data from the website that is not indicated in the two tables above–that is to say, look at companies where information is readily available both for the number of employees and for the net profit (some of the companies lack data for both the number of employees and the amount of net profit)–we can get an idea of the extent of exploitation in terms of the amount of profit generated per worker for each company as well the average amount of net profit produced (or appropriated) per worker.
I address some objections to this calculation after the tables. I calculated the Canadian equivalent (far right).
The Largest Employers According to Profit Produced or Appropriated Per Worker in Sweden
| Company | Net profit (×1000) SEK | Number of employees | Net Profit per worker SEK | Net Profit per worker (in Canadian dollars) (dividing net profit in Kronas by 7) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Investor AB |  102 650 000 |
 |
15,560 | 6,597,000 |
$942,429 |
|
2 |
AstraZeneca AB | 37 436 000 |
|
6,150 | 6,087,000 |
$869,571 |
|
3 |
SCA, Svenska Cellulosa AB | 19,539,000 |
|
4,253 | 4,594,000 |
$656,286 |
| 4 | Vattenfall AB | 18,322,000 |
|
19.997 | 916,000 |
$130,857 |
| 5 | Atlas Copco AB | 21,572,000 |
|
37,805 | 571,000 |
$81,571 |
| 6 | Volvo, AB | 46,832,000 |
|
93,731 | 500,000 |
$71,429 |
| 7 | Scania CV AB | 16,476,000 |
47,489 | 347,000 | $49,571 |
|
| 8 | Volvo Car AB | 13,168,000 |
|
41,517 | 317,000 |
$45,286 |
| 9 | Sandvik AB | 12,150,000 |
|
41,120 | 295,000 |
$42,143 |
| 10 | Essity AB | 13,040,000 |
|
45,980 | 284,000 |
$40,571 |
| 11 | Assa Abloy AB | 13,571,000 |
|
48,992 | 277,000 |
$39,571 |
| 12 | Skanska AB | 7,340,000 |
|
34,756 | 211,000 |
$30,143 |
| 13 | SKF, AB | 8,469,000 |
41,559 | 204,000 |
$29,143 |
|
| 14 | ICA Gruppen AB | 4,402,000 |
|
23,125 | 190,000 |
$27,143 |
| 15 | Carl Bennet AB | 5,,124,000 |
28,825 | 178,000 |
$25,429 |
|
| 16 | H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB | 17,391,000 |
126,376 | 138,000 |
$19,714 |
|
| 17 | Axel Johnson Holding AB | 2,237,000 | |
22,291 | 100,000 | $14,286 |
| 18 | Ericsson, Telefon AB LM |  8,762,000 |
|
94,503 | 93,000 |
$13,286 |
| 19 | Loomis AB | 2,210,000 |
24,895 |
89,000
|
$12,714 |
|
| 20 | Electrolux, AB | 2,456,000 |
|
48,651 | 50,000 | $7,143 |
In terms of total profit per worker for all the above workers, if we sum up total profits and total employees and divide total profits by total employees, we obtain:
Total profit: 373,147,000×1000 SEK; /7=$53.306714290 billion Canadian dollars
Total #Employees: 847,575
Total profit per worker: 53.30671429/847,575=$62,893 per worker. The above workers in the last table, then, on average, produced $62,893 free of charge to the Swedish employers in one year. Sweden, despite greater access to free public services, is characterized by systemic exploitation of the working class. Furthermore, it is characterized by oppression of these workers even when workers are producing the equivalent of their own wage rather than producing a profit (or surplus value) for the employer (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation).
Some Marxists will claim that this is unscientific since many factors are excluded from consideration(such as the difference between values and prices of production, a difference that I addressed, in a preliminary way, in my comment to the post The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Air Canada, One of the Largest Private Employers in Canada. Given the large difference in profit per worker in the first and twentieth company, divergences may be great, but without further data (the level of investment in means of production, raw materials, auxiliary materials and the like), any further refinement is impossible.
Objections to the limited nature of the data are valid.
However, my answer to its limited nature is; it is better to estimate profit per worker than not provide anything. If more accurate calculations are then provided later on, all the better. But in the meantime, at least we have an idea of the extent of exploitation of workers. Calculation of the rate of exploitation, which involves profit divided by wage, of course, would require data on wages in these companies. More accurate statistics and more refined analyses would be most welcome.
The purpose of the above is mainly to highlight that the social-democratic heaven of Sweden is hardly the heaven painted by social democrats or social reformers. In Sweden, like other capitalist countries, workers are used as means to obtain more money (see The Money Circuit of Capital). They are both exploited (perform more work than is necessary to produce the equivalent of their own wage), and they are oppressed (subject to the dictates of their employer–both when they produce the equivalent of their wage and when they produce a surplus value for free for the employer (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation).
The Abolitionary 