work becoming too expensive??

I would say that it means that we are giving up too much of ourselves to make money. If you look at Western economies, and particularly the American economy, lives are being spent in the pursuit of bigger and better plasma screens, games consoles, cars etc which we really don't need. And in the pursuit of those things we are losing the things which really matter, such as caring for others.

Bearing in mind that the director started making this film in 1996 it could be considered quite prescient, but to a lesser degree those faults have been widespread in the richer countries. It's unlikely that it has anything to do with the Swedes or their economy - the Scandinavians have had a high standard of living for a long time.

I'd guess is has to do with not being able to compete with low-labor cost countries because of the wellfare system of Sweden in particular (Sweden has one of the most extensive wellfare systems of the world, for instance a year of payed leave when you become a parent, free education, free creches) and Europe in general. To pay a dollar to a Swede multiple dollars have to payed in taxes, social insurances, obligatory pension funds etc. It becomes too expensive to pay Swedes to do the work so work is offshored or done by illigal immigrants. This is the paradoxical downside to the high standard of living the Swedes enjoy.