Top Swedish IT companies are facilitating the disappearance of Swedish jobs by abusing work permits which allow them to bring skilled foreign workers into the country, a Swedish union has complained.

According to Swedish trade union Unionen, it's common for Ericsson and other IT companies to attract and train foreign workers in Sweden so they can perform similar tasks back in their home countries.

The practice will result in the disappearance of Swedish jobs, the union claimed.

The union alleges that two Ericsson departments are currently training a number of Indian workers. After the workers return to India, half of the employees in the departments in Sweden will lose their jobs when their positions are outsourced to India.

"To a certain extent, the foreign workers are used for that purpose," Tomas Svartling, collective wage agreement ombudsman for the IT industry at Unionen, told the TT news agency.

The permits are issued under 2008 reforms to Swedish laws governing labour migration which give companies more leeway in decisions about the issuance of Swedish work permits.

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