A SWEDISH official has a novel proposal to improve work-life balance and lift the local birthrate: give municipal employees an hour-long paid break each week to go home and have sex.
Sweden is already celebrated for its generous welfare state, including 480 days of paid parental leave, universal health care and a common ritual of coffee and pastry, known as fika, which is considered sacrosanct.
Per-Erik Muskos, a 42-year-old councilman from the northern town of Övertorneå, wants to add to those benefits by offering the municipality’s 550 employees the right to
subsidised sex. Introducing his proposal this week, he told fellow members of the town council that it would give a nudge to the dwindling local population, add spice to aging marriages and improve employee morale.
The idea quickly got attention all over Sweden, where for at least some, it was a welcome distraction from United States President Donald Trump’s vague reference to problems the country was having with immigration, which were denied by baffled Swedes.
Noting that “sex is also a great form of exercise and has documented positive effects on well-being”, Muskos suggested that local municipal employees could use an hour of the workweek already allotted for fitness to go home and have sex with their spouses or partners instead. The motion, which is expected to be voted on in the spring, needs a simple majority to be passed by the 31-member council. As of now, opinion on the council is divided.
“We should encourage procreation. I believe that sex is often in short supply. Everyday life is stressful and the children are at home,” Muskos said in his motion in Övertorneå, a town of about 4,500 in the remote Torne Valley.
“This could be an opportunity for couples to have their own time, only for each other.”
His proposal has generated praise, ridicule and criticism. Critics fear single workers could while away their working hours on dating app Tinder to find a date for their interlude.
When Muskos introduced the motion on Monday, some council members giggled while others said they were not amused. But, befitting a progressive country which has long been perceived as a beacon of sexual enlightenment, the proposal was taken in stride.
It made headlines across Sweden and beyond. “Suggestion: Let the staff have sex during working hours”, Expressen declared, under a photograph showing a couple in bed.
Muskos told colleagues the proposal was no joke, though he acknowledged practical problems, like enforcement. It would be difficult to tell, for example, if an employee eschewed sex in favour of a walk.
Sweden has among the highest fertility rates in the European Union according to Eurostat, the bloc’s statistic agency, in part because of the country’s generous parental leave systems and immigration. But, the fertility rate has nevertheless been decreasing recently.
Malin Hansson, 41, a sexologist and reproductive health specialist in Gothenburg, applauded the initiative.
“If it was up to me, I would introduce this across the country,” she said, adding: “In Sweden, sex is considered just another activity.”
Stefan Nilsson, a Green Party member who sits on the health and welfare committee of the Swedish Parliament, said he was sceptical that taxpayers would want their money to finance work-hour sex, but said the idea might be a canny investment in physical activity, noting that healthier workers cost the government less.
Tomas Vedestig, 42, a left-leaning municipal councilman in Övertorneå, said when Muskos made his pitch, his colleagues were so taken aback that they thought they had misheard him. Vedestig said the proposal was intrusive and threatened to embarrass people who do not have sexual partners; do not want to have sex; or had medical conditions that precluded sex.
And, some proponents worried the proposal was too stingy: “I spoke to a couple of older gentlemen who said, ‘One hour? That is not enough time’.” NYT