The main objective of this thesis is to analyse if and to what extent changes in the labour market can be regarded as a factor influencing the risk of becoming a disabil­ity pensioner. Disability pension is a social security program operating in the nexus of work and welfare and is provided to people who, due to medical reasons, are limited in their work ability. The data material analysed consists of information about all individuals who received disability pension in 1988 (54 000) and 1993 (62 000) in Sweden. Samples fremi the non-pensioner population formed control- groups. The data collected covers mainly social and occupational background of the individuals. The first step in the analyses addressed the question of causes of disability pen­sion in general. This part showed that the causes must be seen in a multifactorial perspective. Individual, structural and institutional factors have significant impact on the relative risk of becoming a disability pensioner. An increased relative risk was associated with low educational background, immigration and broken marriages. However, the variables that had the strongest effect were age, health and position in the labour market i.e. social class and occupation. It became obvious that one im­portant mechanism explaining the impact of occupation was exposition of work environment conditions. The second step in the analyses focused on labour market change as a risk-factor. The results showed a negative correlation between employment change rates and disability pension. Individuals in occupations and industries with decreasing num­ber of emplyoees had an increased relative risk. It became clear that especially un­skilled workers and employees with a peripheral position were affected by this factor. This was especially true for women. The female labour market is to a large extent dependent on the public service sector and the reductions within this sector have resulted in an increased frequency of disability pensioning. To conclude, the study has shown that disability pension in Sweden is deeply embedded in the labour market and the occupational structure in Sweden. This can be explained both as a consequence of characteristics that accompany certain posi­tions at the labour market and as an effect of how the labour market develops. / digitalisering@umu

This thesis is about exploring the politics within and around research. The starting point is a European project which ran from late 1997 to the end of 2000. It was called "Self-employment activities concerning women and mi­norities: their success or failure in relation to social citizenship policies" and had as its objective to provide the EU-Commission with recommendations for improved self-employment policies. Background material was comple­mented by interviews with "experts", but the main source of information was in the form of biographical interviews with the self-employed, or for­merly self-employed, themselves. The qualitative method was used as a way of researching how individuals' background and experiences influenced their decision to become self-employed as well as their tendency to use labour market policies available for starting businesses. It was also a way to find out how those policies impacted on the individuals' lives. The conse­quent recommendations included a suggestion for broadening existing policies to comprise social aspects as well as financial allowances, and also the caution that self-employment was perhaps not the best solution to labour market and social exclusion. This latter doubt arose during project work, as did questions about methodology, the role of the researcher, and eventually about the politics that inform research. Only briefly touched upon in the project reports, these issues instead became the basis for the thesis. A reflexive rereading of the Final Report led to a critical examination of the political uses of con­cepts and categories, of how stereotypes affect research, and of the embeddedness in ethnocentric discourses of both research and researcher. The use of postcolonial and feminist theory, discourse analysis and a social constructionist perspective broadened the analytical possibilities and fur­thered understanding of the connections between politics and research. A conclusion is that a comprehensive change in the social order as well as in people's conscience is required to stem ethnic discrimination in society and the perpetuation of stereotypes and preconstructed categories in research. / digitalisering@umu

This study presents an account of experiences of recent immigrant women professionals in negotiating labour market opportunities after arriving in Canada. The purpose of this research is to bring in immigrant women’s perspectives on immigration and employment study. Six immigrant women professionals from different cultural backgrounds were interviewed within the framework of qualitative research. Informed by feminist theories, this study intended to make women’s experience in post-arrival integration and settlement more visible and prominent. Research findings indicate both labour market and household factors contributed to shape the labour market experience of immigrant women professionals of recent years. Their experiences reveal the complicated social relations of their doubly burdened and triply oppressed location.

In Canada, the non-recognition of foreign credentials remains a considerable policy issue as well as a challenge for skilled immigrants. Many studies have shed light on the difficulties that foreign professionals face when seeking a placement in the Canadian job market. This thesis focused on the experiences of professional women from Morocco on the basis of the premise that every racialized group’s immigration experience deserves a space in the literature to voice their realities and inspire policy considerations. As a result, this study focused on examining the experiences of Moroccan women in the Canadian job market and the impact thereof, on their socio-economic status, and as such, health and well-being. In order to effectively capture the experiences of this particular community, a fieldwork study was conducted in the form of semi-structured individual interviews with twelve women who immigrated to Canada from Morocco with professional qualifications. Based on the participants’ accounts, I described that systemic discrimination as manifested in Othering and racialization remain major obstacles to the realization of equal access in the Canadian labour market. All in all, this research provides valuable insight into the plight of skilled immigrants in Canada and thus, offers strong policy recommendations to facilitate a more effective integration process for this group into the Canadian Job market.

The gender wage gap is accounted for to a substantial degree by the sex composition of occupations. The present thesis examines the mechanisms that produce this pattern. In particular, the theory of devaluation, currently the most widely accepted sociological explanation, is tested. The empirical findings, reported in three self-contained essays, question this line of explanation. All results are based on Swedish data: the Level of Living surveys (LNU; essays I and II) and administrative labour market registers (essay III). In Essay I the association between occupational prestige and occupational sex composition is examined. The association is non-linear, with gender mixed occupations having the highest prestige. Further, care work does not have lower prestige than other kinds of work. These results are inconsistent with expectations derived from devaluation theory. The analysis also shows that the wage returns to occupational prestige are lower for women than for men. Essay II examines why women receive relatively low returns to prestige. Family related factors are shown to be crucial. The gender difference in pay-off to prestige is thus marked among married/cohabiting employees with children but insignificant among singles as well as among childless married/cohabiting women and men. The gender wage gap in high-prestige occupations is largely due to differences between women and men in work characteristics difficult to reconcile with family duties. In essay III the functional form of the relation between wages and occupational sex composition is investigated. In the cross-section gender mixed occupations have the highest wages. Panel data tend to confirm this pattern: mobility from strongly male or female dominated occupations to more gender mixed occupations is associated with relatively high rates of wage growth. Further, there is a wage premium for care work but a wage penalty for other service work. These findings do not support devaluation theory. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. 3: Accepted.</p>

The aim of the thesis is to study some of the essential consequences of the location of Algots Ltd in three municipalities (Lycksele, Norsjö and Skellefteå) in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. The factories were established with huge subsidies from the Swedish Government which considered the location as a major effort to stimulate regional development in Västerbotten County.The study shows that the yearly working time has increased, on average, by 80 per cent for the women who received employment in one of the factories. Both the incomemult i pi i er and the employmentmult i piier effects in Västerbotten County are rather small since the intermediate goods used by the firm are produced outside the region. The study also contain cost-benefit analysis as applied to the whole economy. Primarily due to very poor private profitability, the investment has yielded negative profitability to the whole economy except in the case of the Norsjö factory. / digitalisering@umu

Att vara mellanchef är på många sätt en utsatt position. Man förväntas hantera krav från både över- och underordnade, samt från sina kollegor som befinner sig på samma nivå. Inom den offentliga politiska sektorn tillkommer ytterligare en dimension  -  kraven från samhället. Vilka är dessa krav? Hur skiljer de sig från varandra? Står de i konflikt med varandra? Och framförallt; hur påverkar dessa mellanchefer på individnivå? Undersökningen utgår från Robert Karaseks Krav och kontroll-modell samt Aaron Antonovskys KASAM-teori. Utifrån dessa två grundläggande teorier har vi framställt följande två frågeställningar; Hur förhåller sig mellanchefer till arbetskraven, inflytandet och det sociala stöd de möter i sitt arbete, samt i vilken grad upplever mellanchefer sitt arbete som begripligt, hanterbart och meningsfullt?  Undersökningen är kvalitativ till sin karaktär, och intervjuer har utförts med mellanchefer inom den offentliga sektorn i en kommun i Sverige. Resultatet visar att mellancheferna har en hög grad av inflytande, höga men relevanta arbetskrav i kombination med starkt socialt emotionellt och instrumentellt stöd. Som komplement till detta framgår en väsentlig dos av begriplighet, hanterbarhet och meningsfullhet i förhållande till arbetet, alla grundläggande komponenter inom KASAM-teorin.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på hur ledare på en bank upplever att de kan lära och utvecklas som ledare. Detta genom feedback, medarbetare, omvärlden och om­organisationen. Studien är av kvalitativt slag och har ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv. Data­insamlingen gjordes genom sju semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet i relation med tidigare forskning och teorier visar på att när reflektion görs så sker lärande och utveckling. Dock så har det visat sig att reflektionstid upplevs vara en bristvara, vilket kan resultera i att lärandet och utvecklingen inte blir lika utbredd som det hade kunnat bli. Något som framkommit är att mentorskap skulle kunna främja lärandet och utvecklingen. Även feedback kan utgöra en grund för ledaren att skapa sig lärande och utveckling. Då det ger en möjlighet för ledaren att rannsaka sig själv och se sig genom andras ögon. En annan aspekt som framkom i studien var att ledarna utövar ett transformativt ledarskap där de involverar sina medarbetare i stor ut­sträckning. / The purpose of this paper is to find out how leaders, at a bank, feel that they can start a learning and development process. This driven by feedback, co-workers, the surrounding environment and reorganization. This paper is of a qualitative nature and has a phenomenological perspective. The data was collected through seven semi-structured interviews. The result in relation to previous research and theories suggest that when reflection is done so is learning and development. It has been proven that time for reflection is something that´s perceived to be in short supply, which can result in that learning and development will not be as widespread as it could have been. Something that has emerged is that mentoring could promote learning and development. Feedback can provide a basis for the leader to create learning- and development processes, since this is an opportunity for leaders to search themselves and see themselves through others’ eyes. Another aspect that emerged in this paper was that leaders engaged in a transformative leadership where they include their co-workers to a large extent.

Syftet med undersökningen är attöka förståelsen för operatörers möjligheter, hinder samt drivkrafter tilllärande i en lean organiserad verksamhet. För attundersöka detta har vi brutit ner syftet i följande frågeställningar: (1) Vadfinns det för möjligheter, hinder samt drivkrafter till lärande utifrånperspektivet arbetets utformning och autonomi? (2) Vad finns det förmöjligheter, hinder samt drivkrafter till lärande utifrån perspektivetledningens stöd? (3) Vad finns det för möjligheter, hinder samt drivkraftertill lärande utifrån perspektivet samverkan och team?(4) Vad finns det för möjligheter, hinder samt drivkrafter till lärande utifrånperspektivet kompetens? Vi har i denna undersökning använt oss av kvalitativmetod och genomfört kvalitativa intervjuer med arbetsledare, teamledarekoordinator, teamledare och operatörer. Resultatet visar attoperatörsarbetet i många delar har en hög grad av standardisering, vilket å enasidan kan innebära att individen lär sig att bemästraen viss uppgift men det kan även bli ett hinder för ett mer utvecklingsinriktatlärande. Samtidigt framkom faktorer som möjliggör ett mer utvecklingsinriktat lärande i arbetet. Dådet finns möjligheter att komma med idéer och synpunkter samt lösa problem,vilket bidrar till samverkan. Även teamarbetet upplevs som lärorikt dåoperatörerna lär av varandra. / The purpose of thisstudy is to increase the understanding of operators'opportunities, barriers and motivations for learning in a lean organized organization.Toexamine this, we have broken down the object into the following questions: (1)What are the opportunities, barriers and incentives tolearning from the perspective of work design and autonomy? (2) What are theopportunities, barriers and incentives to learning fromthe perspective of management support? (3) What are the opportunities, barriersand incentives to learning from the viewpoint ofinteraction and teams? (4) What are the opportunities, barriers and incentives to learning from the perspective of competence? In thisstudy we have used the qualitative method with chiefly interviews withsupervisors, team leader coordinators, team leaders and operators. The resultsrevealed that operator work in many areas has a high degree of standardization,which on the one hand teaches individuals to mastercertain data, but is also an obstacle to moredevelopment-oriented learning. At the same time factors appeared which may alsoenable preparating to work towards more development-orientedlearning. It offers possibilities to come up withideas and observations and solve problems, which also contributes tothe interaction. Even teamwork is perceived as instructive as operators learnfrom each other.

The purpose of our study is to examine whether stress among social workers is present, and if so, what strategies they and their supervisors use to manage work-related stress. The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consist of interviews, with six social workers and three supervisors. The study’s theoretical framework is based on KASAM, SOC-sense of coherence by Antonovsky, demand- control- support model by Karasek &amp; Theorell, stress theory by Hans Selye and coping strategies by Lazarus. The result of our study indicates that stress is present among social workers. The common stress symptoms are gastritis, difficulty concentrating and sleeping problems. The main factors that cause work- related stress are found to be workload, work environment, involuntary break, and responsibility. The study shows that stress is not constant and it is manageable thanks to coping strategies that the social workers and their supervisors use. Coping strategies that contribute to the reduction of stress are a supportive chief, social support, reasonable requests, clear leadership and functioning family. Social support and support from their supervisors is the most frequently mentioned copying strategies. Our result indicates that creating a supportive work environment is very important for the well-being of social workers.