This thesis examines the National Confederation of Employers' Organisations (N.C.E.O.), and its attitude towards the unemployment problem between the Wars. Chapter 1 deals with the origins and the development of the Confederation. Founded in 1919, the N.C.E.O. specialised in employers' labour and social interests, and on both subjects, it emerged as a recognised political force. For the Confederation, however, unemployment provided a meeting place for the politics of work and the politics of social welfare. Chapter 2 examines the N.C.E.O.'s attitude towards the prevention and reduction of unemployment between the Wars. Although it was prepared initially to collaborate with the Government and the trade unions in backing direct measures to tackle unemployment, the N.C.E.O. eventually lost interest. From 1925 until the mid 1930's it argued that unemployment was mainly a function of a rigid wage structure and high standards of State social welfare. In particular, it directed criticism against Government spending on the maintenance of the unemployed. Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the N.C.E.O.'s attitude towards the unemployment insurance scheme during the 1920's. The Confederation wanted a low-benefit, low-cost scheme, which would preserve the distinctions between wage-earners and the unemployed and minimise the financial responsibilities of employers. This objective was pursued in politics, but with limited success. Chapter 5 examines the N.C.E.O.'s attitude towards the Poor Law and public assistance during the same period. The Confederation wanted to separate the insured unemployed and transfer the long-term workless to the public assistance authorities, and it argued that this should be done in conjunction with a general reorganisation of poor law relief. Chapter 6 deals with the N.C.E.O.'s role in the debate on the unemployed after 1929. It played a prominent part in the controversy over the unemployment insurance scheme in 1931, and it was actively involved in the political debate which preceded the introduction of the Unemployment Act in 1934. During these years political opinion favoured the N.C.E.O.'s views on the unemployed, and to some extent, these views were recognised by the 1934 Act. The thesis concludes that the N.C.E.O. was an important employers' organisation. Although it exercised little direct influence over Government unemployment policy, it helped to translate ideas about unemployment and the unemployed and shape the political context in which certain policies were devised and implemented.

During the first decades of the post-war era, Sweden experienced a rapid increase in labour immigration. Many of these migrants found employment in the industrial sector, where they became concentrated. This concentration varied between different industries, but was amongst the highest in the metal and engineering industries. The aim of the thesis is to explain why migrant workers were concentrated in the Swedish metal and engineering industries during the post-war period, circa 1946-67. For this aim the thesis uses case studies, one on the regional level and another at the company level, in order to investigate and differentiate between different explanations. A varied set of different direct, as well as underlying causes and circumstances have been suggested in previous research to explain this uneven distribution of migrant workers on the labour market. Different explanations arising from these perspectives have been used in prior research with some success, but they rarely confront explanations from other perspectives, thus creating different narratives driven by different circumstances, causes, processes and intentions. The ambition of this thesis has been to seek explanations for a complex and changing historical process in post-war Sweden. In order to study this, explanations from previous research have been used to find the reasons and causes behind the concentration of foreign workers in the metal and engineering industries during the post-war era. At the same time, the results of these empirical studies are used to problematize and question these established explanations. The results have led to a somewhat different picture of the circumstances and reasons that shaped the labour immigration and the distribution of foreign employees on the Swedish labour market during the post-war period. The thesis particularly stresses that the possibilities and capabilities of the employers had a significant impact on the distribution of foreign workers.

<p>I uppsatsen görs en läroboksanalys av samhällskunskapsläroböcker från 1970-tal och 2000-tal. Samtliga läroböcker som ingår i analysen vänder sig till elever i gymnasieskolan. Fokus för analysen är hur arbetsmarknadens parter framställs under 1970-talet, respektive under 2000-talet. Framställningen av dessa aktörer kopplas bl.a. till samhällsutvecklingen och till för tiden gällande styrdokument.  </p>

I uppsatsen görs en läroboksanalys av samhällskunskapsläroböcker från 1970-tal och 2000-tal. Samtliga läroböcker som ingår i analysen vänder sig till elever i gymnasieskolan. Fokus för analysen är hur arbetsmarknadens parter framställs under 1970-talet, respektive under 2000-talet. Framställningen av dessa aktörer kopplas bl.a. till samhällsutvecklingen och till för tiden gällande styrdokument.