The local labour market policy in Sweden offers activities to unemployed people who need more competence to get self-sufficient. To get hired the unemployed people need employers who want to hire them. Employers’ perception of the activities from the local labour market policy is therefor crucial for the unemployed who take part in the activities. This master’s thesis aims to interview employers from low-skilled work and take part of their perception of the local labour market policy and their descriptions of their recruitment. This study is conducted via short telephone interviews with 277 employers in a county of Sweden. With a theoretical framework of institutional logics the result shows that there is a gap between the local labour market policy and the employers. The gap is visible mainly through the employers expression that the participants from the local labour market policy do not meet the employers requirements to be able to get hired. The employers seem to be governed by institutional logics such as market, individualization and to some extent also democratic logics.

This thesis has analysed the relations among the women’s movement, the state and the labour market policy during and shortly after the Second World War and to what extent this period can be characterised as a formative phase as regards gender relations. The aim has been to study women’s strategic actions in order to influence the Swedish Government’s labour market policy in the period from 1939 to 1947. The thesis shows the conflicts of interest that manifested themselves between Statens arbetsmarknadskommission (SAK, ‘the National Swedish Labour Market Commission’) and its advisory women’s group, experts on women’s issues, concerning the planning and utilisation of female labour. SAK thought that the work of the experts on female issues should only focus on the short-term labour problems caused by the national crisis situation, while the experts on women’s issues were of the opinion that they should also work with long-term labour-market issues for women. These different ways of thinking and understanding the problem originated in different views on women’s work. The experts on women’s issues wanted to strengthen women’s position on the labour market by abolishing the wage differences between the genders, breaking the gender segregation in education, and broadening the occupational choices of girls. They had three strategies for achieving this: a strategy of professionalisation, a strategy of change, and a strategy of state feminism. The strategy of professionalisation was aimed at raising the value of traditional female work, in terms of both status and wages. The strategy of change was aimed at creating new opportunities for women to leave typical low-wage jobs and gain access to better paid jobs in male-dominated areas. The strategy of state feminism was aimed at paving the way for women in new and expanding occupational areas beside the traditional male occupations. Can the period during and shortly after the war be characterised as a formative phase of the issue of gender relations? It is evident that this period did not involve a revolution of the societal gender order. The idea of women as reserve labour did not disappear. The post-war planners considered that, in the transition to peace, the women who had replaced men who were called up should be redeployed or retrained for employment in household work, in hotels, restaurants and cafés, in shops and in health care. In spite of the great shortage of labour in the post-war period, leading politicians and economists stuck to old ways of thinking. A clear indication on the part of the Government was that the women’s movement’s demand for long-term planning in order to utilise female labour was turned down. One important difference from the First World War was that the Government produced peace plans for women’s work during the Second World War. The period also led to ideological and institutional consequences that could be the beginning of a change of the societal gender order. From her central position in Kommissionen för ekonomisk efterkrigsplanering (‘the Commission for economic post-war planning’), Karin Kock could see to it that women’s demands for greater occupational mobility and a loosening up of the gender division of labour had an impact on the post-war planning of the war years. The experiences of women in male industries in the Second World War, both in Sweden and abroad, showed to some extent that it was possible to change the gender division of labour. The modern welfare state also came to correspond to a great extent to the state feminist strategy of the experts on women’s issues. With the historical formation of the welfare state a new type of occupational groups developed, the so-called welfare state professionals.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra intressekonflikter som uppstått mellan kommun och branschorganisation när en kommun ansökt om att få bli leverantör till Arbetsförmedlingen för en tjänst som tidigare endast upphandlats med privata aktörer. Vidare är vårt syfte att undersöka huruvida demokratiska eller ekonomiska incitament ligger till grund för Karlshamns kommun respektive branschorganisationens ställningstagande i denna fråga. Karlshamns kommun har med bakgrund av SOU 2020:41 Kommuner som utförare av tjänster åt arbetsförmedlingen - en analys av de rättsliga förutsättningarna, skickat in en ansökan till arbetsförmedlingen för tjänsten Kundval Rusta och matcha. Karlshamns kommun var den första kommunen i Sverige att skicka in en sådan ansökan. Genom att analysera primärkällor i form av texter från Karlshamns kommun respektive branschorganisationen Almega med hjälp av Bacchis metod WPR analys avser vi att synliggöra hur problemet representeras från respektive part. Genom att koppla dessa representationer till politisk styrning, offentligt etos och makt visar vårt resultat att Karlshamns kommun drivs av både demokratiska och ekonomiska incitament medan å andra sidan branschorganisationen nästan uteslutande drivs av ekonomiska incitament. Vidare är vår slutsats att nuvarande politiska styrning av den Svenska arbetsmarknadspolitiken inte gynnar ett gott samarbete mellan medverkande på den svenska arbetsmarknadspolitiska arenan. Fokus bör vara den arbetssökande och reformer behöver komma till stånd. Det är Arbetsförmedlingen och därmed staten som besitter ansvaret och makten. Närmare bestämt den strukturella makten att fördela vem som ska få tillgång till kunskap och därmed aktörsmarknaden. I våra referensländer har ansvaret för arbetsmarknadspolitiken decentraliserats till lokala kommuner, vilket är ett alternativ som denna studie föreslår att Sverige bör undersöka närmare. / The purpose of this study is to make visible the conflicts of interest that have arisen between a municipality and one of Sweden's Trade associations. These conflicts arose when the municipality applied to become a provider for the Swedish Public Employment Service regarding a service that so far only has been procured with private actors. Furthermore, this study also aims to investigate whether democratic or economic incentives form the basis for Karlshamn's municipality and the Trade association's position regarding the conflict of interest. Based on SOU 2020:41 Municipalities as providers of services to the employment service - an analysis of the legal conditions, Karlshamn municipality has submitted an application to the Swedish Public Employment Service regarding the Kundval Rusta and matcha. The municipality of Karlshamn was the first municipality in Sweden to submit such an application. By analyzing texts from Karlshamn municipality and the Trade association as primary material through Bacchi's method WPR analysis, we intend to make visible how the problem is represented by each party as well as analyzing the incentives behind the representations of what is perceived as a problem. By linking these representations to political governance, public ethos and power, our results show that Karlshamn's municipality is driven by both democratic and economic incentives, while on the other hand the Trade association is almost exclusively driven by economic incentives. We also conclude that the current political governance of Swedish labor market policy does not favor good cooperation between actors on the Swedish labor market policy arena without reforms having to take place. It is the Swedish Public Employment Service and thus the state that possesses the power, responsibility and more specifically, the structural power to distribute who should have access to the player market. In our reference countries, this responsibility has been decentralized to local municipalities. Which we, after this study, consider to be an alternative that Sweden should investigate further.

Uppsatsenutgör en utvärdering av en kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitisk åtgärd/insatsbenämnt Personlig Utvecklings Tjänst (PUT- tjänst, PUT) som riktas tilllångtidsarbetslösa och socialbidragsberoende invandrare i Uddevalla kommun.Åtgärden/insatsen innebär att ett visst antal individer erhållervisstidsanställning inom kommunens verksamheter i syfte att bland annat fåarbetslivserfarenhet i Sverige och referenser. Syftet med studien är attfördjupa förståelsen för hur några av de som haft PUT- anställning upplevdeden. Deras upplevelser av insatsens/anställningens påverkan på livssituationenavseende ekonomi, sociala nätverk och aktiviteter samt upplevelsen avbemötandet på PUT- arbetsplatserna ställs i centrum. Sålunda fokuseras deintervjuades resonemang kring sin livssituation beträffande övergången frånsocialbidragstagande och långtidsarbetslöshet till visstidsanställning ochegenförsörjning genom insatsen PUT. Studien undersöker också huruvida deintervjuade utökat sitt sociala nätverk till att inkludera fler personer med svenskbakgrund medelst PUT- anställningen. Även de intervjuades upplevelser av PUToch dess betydelse i vägen mot integration i arbetsmarknaden lyfts fram. Kvalitativaintervjuer genomfördes med 10 personer som haft PUT- tjänst med ambitionen att kunnauppnå syftet med studien. I intervjuerna framkom att informanterna upplevdetidsperioden de hade PUT som positiv med särskild betoning på att derasekonomiska situation förbättrades avsevärt. I syfte att bibehålla eller utökaolika former av kapital, använder informanterna olika strategier och de framförupplevelser av stigmatisering och distinktioner av varierande slag. I analysenav resultatet, förenas Bourdieu (1999), Goffman (1972) och Elias och Scotson (1999).Flera konstateranden görs i diskussionsavsnittet och slutsatsen att behov attgenomföra vissa förändringar av insatsen dras, varför det i uppsatsen ocksålämnas förslag på hur PUT skulle kunna förändras i syfte att få ännu kraftigareoch bättre slagkraft på arbetslösheten bland socialbidragstagande ochlångtidsarbetslösa invandrare. I detta sammanhang refereras också till dentidigare forskning som presenteras i uppsatsen, vilken behandlar problemområdetinvandrare och deras inkludering/exkludering från arbetsmarknaden på grund avderas grupptillhörighet. / The essay is an evaluation of a local government actionto promote employment / operation called Personlig UtvecklingsTjänst/PUT-tjänst, PUT (Personal Development Employment / PUT- employment)directed to long-term unemployed and welfare dependent immigrants in UddevallaMunicipality. The action / operation means that a certain number of individualsreceive fixed temporary employment inside the municipality's operations/activitiesin order to, inter alia, get work experience in Sweden and references. Thepurpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of how some of those whohave had PUT employment experienced it. Their experiences of the localgovernment action / employment and its impacts on living conditions, ineconomic, social networks and activities, and experience of the encounter onthe PUT workplaces is targeted. The focus is on the interviewees discussionsabout their lives about the transition from welfare dependency and long-termunemployment to fixed-term and self-sufficiency through the action PUT. Thestudy also examines whether the respondents expanded their social networks toinclude more people with Swedish background through the PUT employment. Alsothe interviewees' experiences of the PUT and its importance in the road tointegration into the labor market are highlighted. Qualitative interviews wereconducted with 10 people who had PUT employment with the ambition to achievethe aim of the study. The interviews revealed that respondents felt the timeperiod they had PUT- employment to be positive with special emphasis on theireconomic situation improved considerably. In order to maintain or expandvarious forms of capital, the respondents use different strategies and they expressexperiences of stigma and distinctions of various kinds. The analysis ofresults, combined Bourdieu (1999), Goffman (1972) and Elias and Scotson (1999).Several conclusions were made in the discussion section and settled that theneed to implement certain changes in operation is necessary. Therefore, thepaper also contains proposals on how the PUT could be changed in order to geteven stronger and better clout in unemployment among welfare dependency andlong-term unemployed migrants. In this context is also referred to the previousresearch presented in the paper, which deals with the problem area immigrantsand their inclusion / exclusion from the labor market because of their groupaffiliation.

This thesis paper is a historical study that examines the labor political issues which the movement of Swedish trade unions faced between the years 1966–1985. How did they understand and formulate these problems and what solutions did they present? “The good work” (“Det goda arbetet”) was one such solution which was introduced in 1985 by The Union of Industrial Metalworkers (Metallindustriarbetareförbundet). This thesis explores the underlying ideas and the history behind this visionary program and how it took inspiration from the ideological developments of the previous decades. This is done by analysing four conference reports published in association with yearly union conferences between 1966 and 1985. These reports center around themes of technological development, working conditions, worker power and self determination to name a few.  The analysis focuses on the labor political issues that arose after the establishment of the “Swedish model” and the post-war era economic boom. One of the major ideological developments during the 1960s was the backlash against the fordist model of production and the critique of rationalisation of work in general. This is shown to be one the major shifts in thinking about work which leads towards the development of solutions such as “The good work” during the 1970s and 80s. Furthermore, it is shown how “The good work” was linked historically to alienation theory and sociological research during the period. The key conclusions from the analysis focus on how worker discontent during the late 1960s led to massive labor political reforms during the 1970s along with the larger project of democratising the workplace gaining new life. This development, however, took a turn in 1976 when the social democratic party lost their first election in nearly 40 years. The analysis of the report by The Union of Industrial Metalworkers from 1985 shows the vision of “The good work” as they formulated it to be stuck between two separate eras. On the one hand it was still in conversation with the left-wing project of advancing labor power and democracy from the 1970s. On the other it had to confront the new political landscape of the 1980s and the right-wing turn towards neoliberalism.

The Swedish Public Employment Service's reform based on the so-called January agreement from 2019 has since its initiation been an ongoing issue in the Swedish public debate. As a result of the reform, several municipalities have expressed experiences that the operational cooperation in individual cases has deteriorated. The experiences are significant, as cooperation between the Swedish Public Employment Service, municipalities and other actors has been described as a prerequisite for realizing labor market policy. The purpose of the thesis is therefore to study what the operational labor market policy cooperation in individual cases looks like in four Swedish municipalities and how municipal officials perceive that the conditions for this cooperation are affected by the Public Employment Service's reform. This through a qualitative interview study, with a strategic selection of municipalities. The study is thus based on a local perspective and the selection of municipalities is made in order to cover several contextual factors that could potentially affect the municipal experiences. The theoretical starting points are taken from the theory of interorganizational cooperation. The result shows consistent experience in all the municipalities interviewed that the conditions for the interorganizational operational cooperation in individual cases at the local level being negatively affected by the Swedish Public Employment Service's reform. Both in terms of cooperation between the municipalities and the Public Employment Service as well as between the municipalities and independent actors (in cases where they cooperated before the reform). The main reason for the deteriorating cooperation is described as a changed local presence, reduced contact areas and reduced personal relationships at the administrator level. These factors have also been identified by the municipal representatives as the most important factors to address in order for there to be an appropriate and well-functioning cooperation. / Arbetsförmedlingens reformering med utgångspunkt i den så kallade Januariöverenskommelsen från 2019 har sedan dess initiering varit en pågående fråga i den svenska samhällsdebatten. Till följd av reformen har flera kommuner uttryckt erfarenheter av att det operativa samverkan i individärenden försämrats. Erfarenheterna är betydelsefulla eftersom samverkan mellan Arbetsförmedlingen, kommuner och andra aktörer beskrivits som en förutsättning för att realisera arbetsmarknadspolitiken. Syftet med uppsatsen är därför att studera hur den operativa arbetsmarknadspolitiska samverkan i individärenden ser ut i fyra svenska kommuner samt hur kommunala tjänstepersoner uppfattar att förutsättningarna för denna samverkan påverkats av Arbetsförmedlingens reformering. Detta genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie, med ett strategiskt urval av kommuner utifrån kommunernas geografiska position och hur Arbetsförmedlingen valt att arrangera myndighetens lokala närvaro. Studien utgår därmed från ett lokalt perspektiv och urvalet av kommuner görs i syfte att täcka in flera kontextuella faktorer som potentiellt kan påverka de kommunala erfarenheterna. Studiens resultat visar på samstämmiga erfarenheter hos de intervjudade kommunföreträdarna om att förutsättningarna för den interorganisatoriska operativa samverkan i individärenden på lokal nivå påverkats negativt av Arbetsförmedlingens reformering. Både när det gäller samverkan mellan kommunerna och Arbetsförmedlingen samt mellan kommunerna och fristående aktörer (i de fall de samverkat innan reformen). De främsta orsakerna till den försämrade samverkan beskrivs vara Arbetsförmedlingens förändrade lokala närvaro, minskade kontaktytor och minskade personliga relationer på handläggarnivå. Faktorerna har utifrån de intervjuade kommunföreträdarna identifierats som viktiga för att främja en ändamålsenlig och välfungerande samverkan.

Examensarbetets syfte var att belysa och bidra till kunskaper om hur elva kommuner i en delregion förhåller sig till nya förutsättningar med en förändrad nationell arbetsmarknadspolitik efter Arbetsförmedlingens reformering 2019. Arbetet bidrar till att ge insikter kring kommunernas strategier för organisering och samverkan, samt konsekvenser för kommunala aktiviteter för deltagarna. Empirin är inhämtad med kvalitativ metod genom att djupintervjua elva kommunala chefer, med ansvar inom arbetsmarknadsområdet i sin kommun, på en strategisk eller strategisk/operativ nivå. Arbetsförmedlingens reformering har till exempel inneburit nedstängning av många lokala kontor och att insatser som tidigare ofta utfördes av kommunerna på uppdrag av Arbetsförmedlingen nu utförs av fristående aktörer. Som en följd av de statliga förändringarna har det påverkat den lokala arbetsmarknadspolitiken som kommunerna utför, med anpassning av kommunernas organisationer och vilka aktiviteter som kan erbjudas deltagarna i målgruppen. Arbetsförmedlingens reformering innebar till en början omfattande konsekvenser för den lokala samverkan och individsamverkan, vilket har fått en betydelse för utförandet av arbetsmarknadspolitiken i praktiken för kommunerna och kommunernas invånare. Examensarbetets teoretiska referensram beskriver att Arbetsförmedlingen har svårigheter i att kunna erbjuda flera av målgrupperna tillräckliga insatser, vanligen de deltagare som står längst ifrån arbetsmarknaden till exempel ungdomar, utrikesfödda och långtidsarbetslösa, grupper som ofta kan ha ett kommunalt ekonomiskt bistånd. Det medför att det kan finnas förväntningar att kommunerna ska utföra insatser för de som står längst ifrån arbetsmarknaden. Målgruppen utgör ofta en kostnad för kommuner och även om arbetsmarknadspolitiken i grunden är ett statligt ansvar agerar kommunerna med insatser för att reducera de egna kostnaderna för ekonomiskt bistånd. Det empiriska materialet i examensarbetet har analyserats tematiskt. För att synliggöra strukturen kontra individernas handlingars betydelse för förändringsprocesserna har analysen utgått från Giddens Struktureringsteori. Slutsatserna är att kommunerna har påverkats med omfattande anpassningar efter Arbetsförmedlingens reformering. Det har krävts olika individuella lokala strategiska beslut för att anpassa organiseringen, ofta med nedskärningar, och samverkan till de nya förutsättningarna. Kommunerna har även valt olika strategier vid anpassning av de aktiviteter som erbjuds olika grupper av deltagare och vilka målgrupper som kommunerna erbjuder aktiviteter. / The aim of the thesis was to shed light and contribute to knowledge about how eleven municipalities in a region are responding to new conditions with a changed national labour market policy after the reform of the Swedish Public Employment Service in 2019. The work contributes to insights into the municipalities' strategies for organization and cooperation, as well as consequences for municipal activities for participants. The empirical data was collected using qualitative method by conducting in-depth interviews with eleven municipal managers, responsible for the labour market area in their municipality, at a strategic or strategic/operational level. For example, the reform of the Swedish Public Employment Service has resulted in the closure of many local offices and that services that were previously often carried out by the municipalities on behalf of the Public Employment Service are now carried out by independent actors. As a result of the government changes, it has affected the local labour market policy that the municipalities carry out, with adaptation of the municipalities' organizations and which activities can be offered to the participants in the target group. The reform of the employment agency initially had extensive consequences for local and individual collaboration, which has been important for the implementation of labour market policy in practice for the municipalities and their residents. The thesis' theoretical framework describes that the Public Employment Service has difficulties in being able to offer several of the target groups sufficient activities, usually the participants who are the furthest from the labour market, such as young people, foreign-born and the long-term unemployed, groups that often can receive municipal economic support. This means that there may be expectations that the municipalities will carry out activities for those who are furthest from the labour market. The target groups represent a cost for the municipalities and even if labour market policy is fundamentally a state responsibility, the municipalities act with activities to reduce their own costs for economic support. The empirical material in the thesis has been analysed thematically. To make visible the structure versus the significance of individuals' actions for the change processes, the analysis has been based on Gidden's Structuration Theory. The conclusions are that the municipalities have been affected by extensive adaptations after the reform of the Swedish Public Employment Service. Various individual local strategic decisions have been required to adapt the organization, often with cuts, and collaboration to the new conditions. The municipalities have also chosen different strategies when adapting the activities offered to different groups of participants and which target groups the municipalities offer activities to.

This thesis investigates Zigenarundersökningen [the Gypsy study] – a socio-medical study of Swedish Roma conducted in 1962-1965. The Study was financed by the National Labour Market Board, which sought scientific information on every adult Roma citizen in order to plan for targeted authority interventions. The socio-medical team used a number of different medical and social techniques, drawing together different kinds of data – from the molecular to the social level – and adding “objective” records from public institutions, which resulted in the creation of detailed and voluminous individual case files. On the basis of these files, the public health specialist John Takman in charge of the socio-medical examinations formulated a professional opinion on each individual and family. During the execution of the study, new scientific and social questions were articulated, resulting in that the originally limited investigation concerning only a smaller group of Roma citizens evolved into a comprehensive research project covering all people identified as Swedish Roma. In this thesis, this expansion is analysed using methodological tools from Science and Technology Studies that focus on the reflexivity between the goals of scientific actors, and the social conditions and problematisations that surround them. In this way, science and policy mutually influence each other in situated practices, which also involves the drawing of scientific boundaries that serve to establish epistemic authority.   Departing from Engin F. Isin’s theory on social citizenship, and its alterities, as constituted in contingent and contextualised social practices, and from Franca Iacovetta’s study of Canadian gatekeepers’ work in cold-war Canada, the thesis investigates how the, with time, increasing and more comprehensive activities of experts and professionals created new dimensions of citizenship. Against this background, the thesis draws the conclusion that the scientific-political examinations of problematised citizenship and citizens in Sweden in the 1960’s, while defining deviance, also defined normality. This implies, furthermore, that scientific measurements and classifications of alterity contributed to constituting those measuring and classifying – the experts and professionals – as virtuous citizens, in accordance with contemporary norms of professionalism and expertise, while the Roma were continually constructed as problematic citizens. Hence, scientific-political activities concerning Swedish Roma in the 1960’s created new spaces of social citizenship, where the contents of both normality and deviance were nuanced and (re)defined.