Accessibility is a well-established concept that appears frequently in urban planning. It refers to the ability of citizens to actively participate in society. Nevertheless, inaccessibility is experienced in many places, which can lead to exclusion of citizens. Against this background, this master's thesis aims to center on the concept of accessibility and examine it from two perspectives - strategic urban planners and individuals. The thesis examines how accessibility is interpreted by strategic urban planners in the two suburban municipalities of Botkyrka and Huddinge and how it is experienced by a group of “low-skilled” workers in an area where there are identified shortcomings in traffic planning. The thesis studies how this group experiences their accessibility in their daily commute before and after they test a Demand-Responsive Transport (DRT) service. The theoretical framework consists of the concepts of accessibility strategies, transport and accessibility, objective accessibility, perceived accessibility, accessibility barriers and social exclusion, which are used to analyze the two different perspectives. The results show that strategic planners view accessibility as the relationship between citizens and destination points, and that inaccessible places are mainly associated with rural or sparsely populated areas. At the same time, the thesis shows that the workers experience inaccessibility in their daily trips, despite living in surrounding municipalities. The results also show the identified potentials and risks of DRT in suburban environments from the perspective of both strategic planners and individuals. The results show that DRT reduced travel times for the workers. Furthermore, perspectives such as reliability, safety and equity are highlighted as important aspects in the design of DRT services.

The construction and usage of gender stereotypes are a continuous social process that occurs daily in the labour market. It is a common conception that negative stereotypes are harmful; however, they are still regularly used for decision-making. Gender stereotypes affect which occupations are interpreted as suitable for women and men. Therefore, women in the labour market face several obstacles to being viewed as legitimate workers and have a more challenging time advancing. This problem is especially evident in low-skilled male-dominated occupations. This paper aims to study how workers in low-skilled male-dominated occupations accept and rationalise differences in internal mobility opportunities. Material from vignettes will be analysed through a mixed method approach, including both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results will be analysed through the concepts of the Worker and the Woman, which have been constructed with inspiration from social role theory, gender systems theory, and the ideal worker. The result shows that it is more accepted among workers in low-skilled male-dominated occupations that male workers with less experience get more internal mobility opportunities than female workers with more experience. This phenomenon is rationalised through gender stereotypes, such as that men have more significant interest and experience in these types of occupations, and are more likely to be favoured by their managers. Women’s opportunities for internal mobility are less accepted, and they are more expected to need help developing their skills. This study concludes that gender stereotypes affect the acceptance and rationalisation of gender differences in internal mobility. Thus, women in low-skilled male-dominated occupations face several challenges, and the results should be used as motivation that efforts to improve the gendered organisational culture is needed.

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Cette thèse étudie le rôle et l’impact du « stage en entreprise » sur la construction du projet professionnel de personnes de « bas niveau de qualification » engagées dans une formation en alternance. Notre objectif principal vise, d’une part, à mettre en évidence leurs profils, leurs besoins ainsi que les représentations qu’elles ont de la formation, du travail et du projet professionnel, et, d’autre part, à identifier et caractériser leurs attitudes et les problèmes spécifiques qu’elles affrontent lorsqu’elles sont en interaction avec les acteurs et le milieu de l’entreprise. Nous partons de l’hypothèse que l’efficacité du stage et du dispositif de formation dépend de la « dynamique biographique » de chaque stagiaire et des difficultés qu’il exprime dans le contexte de l’alternance. Après une phase d'enquête sur terrain et la réalisation d’études de cas à partir d’une série de questionnaires et entretiens, nous pensons que les problèmes rencontrés par ces stagiaires ne sont pas de l’ordre de la construction proprement dite du projet professionnel, mais des doutes, sinon des craintes, sur leurs capacités à pouvoir le construire. Le blocage semble en amont même de la construction du projet : ils peinent à surmonter des obstacles biographiques, personnels, psychologiques et contextuels. L’efficacité recherchée pourrait être obtenue à deux conditions : une réorganisation institutionnelle et pédagogique des dispositifs de formation et une amélioration de l’accompagnement psychologique et social des stagiaires. / This thesis analyses the role and impact of “a company internship” onto the development of professional scheme with “low skilled individuals” involved in alternative training. Our main target is, on the one hand, to highlight their profiles, their needs, as well as the representations they have of their trainings, their jobs, their professional schemes and, on the other hand, to identify and characterize their attitudes and the particular problems they are confronted with, when interacting with the different actors and with their business environment. We take for granted that the efficiency of the training system is connected with the biographical dynamics of each trainee together with the types of difficulties experienced in the context of alternative training. The research highlights that the problem for this group of the professional scheme as such but rather to doubts, even fears about their actual capacity to carry it out. The blocage seems even prior to the development of the scheme: they are having difficulties to overcome the biographical, personal, psychological and contextual obstacles. The expected efficiency could be obtained on two conditions: an institutional and pedagogical reorganization of the training system together with a better psychological and social accompaniment of the trainees.

This research aims to study the dynamic effect of emigration on the human development of the sending countries. For this, emigration is measured through low-skilled and high-skilled emigrants, as well as remittances. Additionally, human development is understood as having a decent standard of life, long healthy life, and education. This research is not concerned with why migrants choose to move. Instead, the concern here is to assess what happens to the human development of the sending countries when they exit their home countries. This work is based on the New Economics of Migration theory and uses Latin America as the sample of sending countries. The data are analyzed through Feasible Generalized Least Squares, Panel Corrected Standard Errors, and GMM-IV. The period covered in this research goes from 1970 to 2015. 5-year-averages are employed in order to calculate the long-run effect of emigration on human development. From the results obtained through the statistical analysis, it can be said that the impacts of emigration on human development are heterogeneous, and that depend on the type of emigration (high-skilled or low-skilled) and on time (short-run or long-run). The findings suggest that there are important short-term benefits of emigration on the access to a decent living standard and to education. However, there are also some worrying negative short-term effects, mostly on a long healthy life. Nevertheless, most of these negative short-run effects revert in the long-run and become more positive. Furthermore, the results show that high-skilled emigration has more positive effects on living standards and on a long healthy life than the low-skilled emigration. On the other hand, in the case of education, it seems like low-skilled emigration has more positive long-run effects when compared to the high-skilled one. / Esta pesquisa visa estudar o efeito dinâmico da emigração no desenvolvimento humano dos países de origem. Para isto, a emigração é mensurada através de emigrantes pouco qualificados e altamente qualificados, bem como remessas. Além disso, o desenvolvimento humano é analisado através de um nível de vida decente, vida longa e saudável, e educação. Esta pesquisa não estuda o porquê os migrantes escolhem se mudar. Em vez disso, a preocupação aqui é analisar o quê acontece com o desenvolvimento humano dos países de origem quando os migrantes saem dos seus países de origem. Este trabalho baseia-se na teoria da Nova Economia da Migração e usa a América Latina como a amostra dos países de origem. Os dados são analisados através de Feasible Generalized Least Squares, Panel Corrected Standard Errors, and GMM-IV. O período abrangido por esta pesquisa é desde 1970 até 2015. São empregadas médias de 5 anos para calcular o efeito de longo prazo da emigração no desenvolvimento humano. A partir dos resultados obtidos através da análise estatística, pode-se dizer que os impactos da emigração no desenvolvimento humano são heterogêneos e que dependem do tipo de emigração (altamente qualificados ou pouco qualificados) e do tempo (curto ou longo prazo). Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram que sugerem que há benefícios importantes no curto prazo no acesso a um nível de vida decente e na educação. No entanto, também há alguns efeitos negativos preocupantes, principalmente em uma vida longa e saudável. No entanto, a maioria desses efeitos negativos no curto prazo se revertem no longo prazo e tornam-se mais positivos. Além disso, os resultados mostram que a emigração altamente qualificada tem efeitos mais positivos sobre o nível de vida e sobre uma longa vida saudável do que a emigração pouco qualificada. Por outro lado, no caso da educação, a emigração pouco qualificada tem efeitos mais positivos no longo prazo quando comparada com a emigração altamente qualificada.

Employee turnover can cost an organization a significant amount of money. In addition, retention of employees can beneficial towards to an organization as it e.g. allows to save costs related torecruitment and training of new employees. The fast food industry is recognized as an industry which employs low-skilled employees and is especially in the United States known to be prone to high employee turnover. With regards to Europe, only little information is available in the field of low-skilled employee retention in the fast food industry. Looking towards the Netherlands, there has been no conducted research concerning this topic from a manager’s perspective allowing to identify the best HR practices to limit employee turnover in the organization. Our purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of the practices on employee retention of low-skilled employees in the Dutch fast food industry. To be able to meet this purpose, the following research question was developed “How do managers address retention of low-skilled employees in the Dutch fast food industry?” To be able to answer this research question, a multiple case study was conducted to study several franchises of the Dutch fast food organization “Verhage fast food”. We chose to conduct a qualitative study by developing semi-structured interviews. The empirical material was collected by interviewing an HR manager and the CEO of Verhage to develop an overview of the organization. Furthermore, we conducted five interviews with franchisees of Verhage. These franchisees were chosen based on four criteria being location, variety in experience, amount of employees, and amount of franchises owned. These four criteria ensured that the chosen franchisees in our study are active in different environmental settings. These interviews were conducted with the aim to find out how these franchisees perceive low-skilled employee retention and to identify how these franchisees address retention through the implementation of HR practices. Our study provided a contribution that shows the most effective HR practices in the fields of recruitment and selection, training and development, career development, and recognition and rewards are depending on the situational factors. Whereas one franchisee needs to pay well above minimum wage to attract low-skilled employees, another franchisee can easily pay the employees minimum wages without the need to worry for job applicants. Another contribution based on the outcome of our study is that the provision of training and responsibilities besides being done to benefit the company in e.g. productivity it also results in more engaging employees with a higher intention to stay.

This research aims to study the dynamic effect of emigration on the human development of the sending countries. For this, emigration is measured through low-skilled and high-skilled emigrants, as well as remittances. Additionally, human development is understood as having a decent standard of life, long healthy life, and education. This research is not concerned with why migrants choose to move. Instead, the concern here is to assess what happens to the human development of the sending countries when they exit their home countries. This work is based on the New Economics of Migration theory and uses Latin America as the sample of sending countries. The data are analyzed through Feasible Generalized Least Squares, Panel Corrected Standard Errors, and GMM-IV. The period covered in this research goes from 1970 to 2015. 5-year-averages are employed in order to calculate the long-run effect of emigration on human development. From the results obtained through the statistical analysis, it can be said that the impacts of emigration on human development are heterogeneous, and that depend on the type of emigration (high-skilled or low-skilled) and on time (short-run or long-run). The findings suggest that there are important short-term benefits of emigration on the access to a decent living standard and to education. However, there are also some worrying negative short-term effects, mostly on a long healthy life. Nevertheless, most of these negative short-run effects revert in the long-run and become more positive. Furthermore, the results show that high-skilled emigration has more positive effects on living standards and on a long healthy life than the low-skilled emigration. On the other hand, in the case of education, it seems like low-skilled emigration has more positive long-run effects when compared to the high-skilled one. / Esta pesquisa visa estudar o efeito dinâmico da emigração no desenvolvimento humano dos países de origem. Para isto, a emigração é mensurada através de emigrantes pouco qualificados e altamente qualificados, bem como remessas. Além disso, o desenvolvimento humano é analisado através de um nível de vida decente, vida longa e saudável, e educação. Esta pesquisa não estuda o porquê os migrantes escolhem se mudar. Em vez disso, a preocupação aqui é analisar o quê acontece com o desenvolvimento humano dos países de origem quando os migrantes saem dos seus países de origem. Este trabalho baseia-se na teoria da Nova Economia da Migração e usa a América Latina como a amostra dos países de origem. Os dados são analisados através de Feasible Generalized Least Squares, Panel Corrected Standard Errors, and GMM-IV. O período abrangido por esta pesquisa é desde 1970 até 2015. São empregadas médias de 5 anos para calcular o efeito de longo prazo da emigração no desenvolvimento humano. A partir dos resultados obtidos através da análise estatística, pode-se dizer que os impactos da emigração no desenvolvimento humano são heterogêneos e que dependem do tipo de emigração (altamente qualificados ou pouco qualificados) e do tempo (curto ou longo prazo). Os resultados desta pesquisa mostram que sugerem que há benefícios importantes no curto prazo no acesso a um nível de vida decente e na educação. No entanto, também há alguns efeitos negativos preocupantes, principalmente em uma vida longa e saudável. No entanto, a maioria desses efeitos negativos no curto prazo se revertem no longo prazo e tornam-se mais positivos. Além disso, os resultados mostram que a emigração altamente qualificada tem efeitos mais positivos sobre o nível de vida e sobre uma longa vida saudável do que a emigração pouco qualificada. Por outro lado, no caso da educação, a emigração pouco qualificada tem efeitos mais positivos no longo prazo quando comparada com a emigração altamente qualificada.

This thesis entitled "Impact of Collective Action in Controlling Migratory Flows: Understanding Migratory Flows within the European Union" analyses the various factors which impact upon migration decision-making and remigration potential among Slovak migrants who entered the Czech Republic after the country acceded to the European Union. The thesis utilizes a meta- theoretical approach which provides wide latitude for the inclusion of theoretical approaches which transcend disciplinary boundaries. Through a discussion of various policy approaches the work demonstrates that attempts to limit flows via legislative changes or the implementation of European Union directives has had little impact on aggregate flows in the specific case of the Czech Republic. Data from a survey conducted by the author is analysed and discussed from various perspectives in the form of a descriptive case study. The case study determines that employment, personal choice and family reunification are significant rationales for mobility related decision making and that long term settlement among this particular group is likely to occur.

Sweden has once been an emigration country, but as the years went by and as the world is in constant change, it turned into an immigration country. One of the most debated questions politically and economically is the employment gap between immigrants and natives. The available studies have mainly described the employment gap between immigrants and natives by human capital factors and discrimination on the labour market. The goal of this paper is to discover the correlation between the local factors and the employment gap between European, non-European immigrants and natives, on municipality level while controlling for education level and gender. Using data from Statistics Sweden and SKR, and an OLS multiple linear regression, we could capture this effect. The local factors studied are the unemployment rate, share of immigrants, share of low-skilled jobs and the size of the municipality. The overall results suggest that the region of birth does have an impact on the employment gap between immigrants and natives, where the biggest gap is between the non-European immigrants and the natives, which is in line with previous studies. Furthermore, both Europeans’ and non-Europeans’ employment rate is mostly correlated with the municipality size followed by the local unemployment rate. Taking the limitations of this paper into account, these results are only an indication and further studies need to be made to further insure the correlation between the local factors and the employment rate.

La politique d’intégration de l’Union européenne offre de nouvelles possibilités aux travailleurs migrant dans le marché interne. Néanmoins, et malgré toutes les stratégies européennes, des entraves à l’intégration semblent persister. Comment peut-on repenser l’intégration à l’heure de la crise de légitimité de l’Europe ? Derrière ces défis nous retrouvons la manière dont les uns perçoivent les autres. Le stéréotype, largement médiatisé du « plombier polonais » nous en donne ici un exemple. Ce symbole du dumping social est apparu en France en 2005 à la veille du référendum sur le traité constitutionnel européen. Il incarnait l’angoisse de la société occidentale devant le flux migratoire de l’Europe de l’Est menaçant les postes de travail. Dès lors, nous pouvons nous poser la question suivante : qui est ce travailleur immigré ? Ce stéréotype affecte-t-il l’intégration des travailleurs européens en France aujourd’hui ? Nous nous focaliserons sur les obstacles à l’intégration européenne. L’objet de cette recherche consiste en particulier à étudier les représentations sociales et leurs impacts sur les pratiques sociales, ce qui distingue notre recherche d’autres études sur la migration et l’intégration. Nous proposons dans notre démarche de nous placer du point de vue de l’individu. Notre attention se porte sur les immigrés polonais en France employés dans les métiers peu qualifiés et leur expérience migratoire face aux stéréotypes. Nous saisirons les éventuels stéréotypes présents chez les clients, les collègues ou les employeurs français en examinant le discours et le vécu de l’immigré polonais. Puis, à travers les représentations sociales nous souhaitons identifier les conséquences des politiques de l’Union européenne sur le monde du travail. Ainsi, notre recherche implique trois dimensions afin de comprendre l’univers des représentations étudiées et leur impact sur l’intégration : le travailleur polonais vis-à-vis du milieu polonais en France, le travailleur polonais vis-à-vis de la société française et le travailleur polonais vis-à-vis de l’Union européenne. Cette analyse relève deux points capitaux : l’ouverture du marché et des frontières a provoqué un changement de conscience des Polonais en œuvrant à l’émergence d’un sentiment d’égalité et de liberté ; la possibilité d’un choix permet à l’immigré de construire un projet pour l’avenir, en France ou en Pologne, qui détermine la motivation à s’adapter et à s’intégrer à la société hôte. / The European Union integration policy offers new opportunities for its citizens in the community labour market. Nevertheless, despite all EU strategies to achieve it, resistance to European integration is inevitable. It is important to ask the question of whether or not problems concerning EU integration can be solved during current crises in Europe. One of the most important reasons for resistance to integration may be due to the way different EU member state populations perceive one another in a social context. The stereotype of the "Polish plumber", one that was widely propagated by the French media, gives us one such example. This symbol of social dumping appeared first in France in 2005, just before the referendum on EU Constitution. Behind this depiction, is the western EU’s anxiety of mass immigration from EU Central and Eastern European member states. Here it is important to closely examine the European immigrants and whether or not the societal portrayal of them has had an effect on their societal integration in France today. We focus on the obstacles of the European integration. The purpose of this research is particularly to study social representations and their impact on social practices, which distinguish our analysis from other migration and integration studies. The worker’s own perception of himself within French society should be taken into consideration as a response to the supranational structure of the European Union. The focus of this research will be placed on Polish immigrants in France who are entirely employed in low-skilled labour and the stereotypes they currently face. The stereotypes of Polish workers in France are then tabled and analysed in order to better understand the impact certain stereotypes and depictions have on the process of integration into French society. This research will also identify the societal consequences that certain EU policies have had as well on integration. The research involves three different approaches in order to understand the power of social representations and their impact on the integration process: a Polish worker and the Polish social circle in France, a Polish worker and the French society and a Polish worker and the European Union. Our analysis identifies two crucial points: the European market and the borders opening caused the Polish workers’ consciousness changing towards the emergence of a sense of equality and freedom; the possibility of choice allows the Polish immigrant to construct a project for the future, in France or in Poland, which determines the motivation to adapt and to integrate into the host society.