This article uses a political economy approach and explores the nexus between labor migrationand the welfare state and how its specificities have been viewed and presented by organizedinterests of employers and trade unions in Swedish labor migration policy debates during the1960s and the 2000s. The analysis demonstrates that the Swedish Employers’ Confederation(SAF) and its organizational successor the Swedish Confederation of Enterprise (SN) have preferreda market-liberal labor migration policy. Over time, a liberal immigration policy has beenviewed by employers as an important policy solution to extend levels of economic growth, increasefirm competitiveness, and maintain funding for generous welfare state services. However, since the1960s the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) has preferred a state-coordinated and regulatedlabor migration policy. In LO’s perspective, a regulated immigration policy is a fundamentalprecondition for guaranteeing workers’ rights, and for minimizing potential negative effects for thefunctioning of the Swedish labor market model and for a prosperous Swedish welfare state.