In 1938 the first legislation for vacation time was signed, giving all workers the right to two weeks paid summer vacation.  As time went on, this right was lengthened to the current five weeks of guaranteed summer vacation for all workers.   Parallel with this the idea of ‘industrisemester’ was established.   This means that during the summer, the majority of industies, as well as many shops and companies are closed

The official industry break is from week 28-31, which is the whole month of July.  This means that factories stop production entirely or minimise it, but work with the bare minimum of staff, sometimes using ‘summer workers’ as temporary replacement.  Volvo Truck Cabs in Umeå with a staff of 2000 shut down for the industry break but have staff working in service and spare parts, as well as the finance departments.  They take this opportunity to do maintenance and installation work that can’t be normally done during production.

 As Swedish companies become more and more international, they may have to be more flexible about the industry summer break but for the moment, it is a good way to give as many people as possible time off to enjoy the summer.