Samhall was founded 1980 and took over all workshops with sheltered employment, office work centers, industrial relief work, and certain types of work carried out in the home. At the time there were a total of 370 factories, which were run by municipalities, county councils, the National Swedish Labor Market Board, the County Labor Board, and others. One of the purposes of the new state-run corporate group was to raise the status of the operations, improve its financial position, and achieve a fairer distribution of jobs around the country.
When the company began, it had a total of about 27000 employees; about 21400 of these had various disabilities. During the late 1980s the government established a framework for the highest number of jobs (expressed in number of working hours), which served as the basis for calculating the compensation provided by the government. During the 1990s the volume target changed to a minimum requirement linked to a fixed compensation. During the 1980s the number of employees with disabilities at Samhall gradually increased, from about 21400, to reach a maximum of 30400 people in 1990. Since then the number has steadily decreased, to the current level of about 22000 employees. Both the number and the percentage of employees without disabilities have decreased substantially over the years. In 1980 Samhall had a total of about 5400 non-disabled, compared with about 1800 today.
Over time a total of almost 25 000 people with disabilities have been able to take the next step, to a job with another employer, after working for Samhall for a while. In the early 1980s the number of transitions annually was slightly more than 1 percent (about 300 people) of employees. The percentage of transitions then steadily increased, peaking at 5.4 percent in 1988/89. From the 1990s through 2004, the percentage of transitions varied, between 2.2 and 5.7 percent. In 1993 the government stipulated a requirement for transitions of at least 3 percent, and in 2000 this threshold was raised to 5 percent.
In the beginning, in 1980, essentially Samhall could offer only various forms of manufacturing work at its 370 factories. During the 1980s and 1990s, the operations evolved, from extremely small-scale, local, and scattered industrial production, into an industrial group with substantial exports in sectors such as furniture and telecom components. An extensive restructuring process began in the 1990s, by which manufacturing activities were gradually replaced by services. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Samhall has created more than 10000 new service jobs.
Between 1980 and 1992 the operations were run like a foundation, with 24 regional county-based foundations and one central foundation. The government and each county council formed the foundation for the regional companies. In 1992, the organization was restructured into a group of companies with state-owned Samhall AB as the parent company and with regional subsidiaries. As a result of this incorporation, Samhall AB could freely command and change the corporate structure of the Group. After 1992, the number of regional subsidiaries dwindled as a result of mergers. Since 2002, all activities in Sweden have been carried out within a single corporation: Samhall AB.
Sidan publicerades 2009-06-01