Syftet med denna studie är att kritiskt granska hur problemet med de statliga insatserna som syftar till att underlätta för nyanländas etablering representeras i en utav Riksrevisionens granskningar inom området etablering och integration, samt vilka subjektspositioner representationerna producerar. Genom att granska materialet vill jag tydliggöra vilka problemrepresentationer som föreligger i det praktiska arbete statliga aktörer utför. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten har varit att det har betydelse hur problem representeras i den offentliga politiken. Först när politiken ifrågasätts kan vi därför förstå hur styrning opererar med vilka effekter för de som är föremål för den. Den metodologiska vägen framåt har i denna studie varit Carol Bacchis metod för policyanalys "What's the problem represented to be?", vilken är en typ av diskursanalys som i detta fall möjliggör ett ifrågasättande av de problematiseringar som styr nyanländas arbetsmarknadsetablering. De problematiseringar som görs i materialet handlar dels om hur vissa kommuners ovilja till ansvarstagande för flyktingmottagandet, till följd av bostadsbrist, ekonomiska förutsättningar eller andra oproblematiserade förklaringar, leder till sämre etableringsresultat. Något annat som problematiseras är statliga aktörers agerande, vilket efter kritisk granskning visar sig präglas av en bristande långsiktighet. Regeringens och myndigheternas brist på långsiktighet i den ekonomiska resursanvändningen belyses och flera myndigheters uppdrag och interna arbete tycks generellt vara ineffektivt för att uppnå goda etableringsresultat långsiktigt. Kortsiktigt agerande visar sig således förhindra etableringen av nyanlända i flera avseenden. Styrningen skapar subjektspositioner och ställer specifika grupper av nyanlända ansvariga för sina egna misslyckanden till etablering - särskilt tydligt är detta i problematiseringar kring etableringen av nyanlända med låga utbildningsnivåer, som helst enkelt betraktas som "icke matchningsbara", samt nyanlända kvinnor. / The purpose of this study is to critically analyse how problems related to the work of the Swedish state, when it comes to enabling newly arrived immigrants to integrate to the labour market, is represented in one of The Swedish National Audit Office's audits regarding integration, and also to analyse how representations constitute subject positions. By critically analysing the material I want to shed light on existing problem representations in the practical work of the public agencies.  The theoretical starting-point is that how problems are represented in public politics matters. It is not until politics is questioned that we can fully understand how governing operates and with what effects for those governed. The methodological way forward in this study is a method for analysing policy called "What's the problem represented to be?", developed by Carol Bacchi, which is a type of discourse analysis that enables questioning of problematisations regarding the labour market integration of newly arrived immigrants. Problematisations in the research material are partly done regarding how the unwillingness of some municipalities to take responsibility for receiving immigrants, whether the reason is lack of housing, economic preconditions or other explanations that are left unproblematic, leads to worse integration results. Another problematisation is done regarding the acting of public actors, which after critical analysis is shown to lack long-term vision. The lack of long-term vision in the use of resources in the government and the public agencies is shed light and several missions of the  public agencies and their internal work is shown to be ineffective for the purpose of reaching good integration results in the long-term. Short-term acting is therefore shown to hinder the labour market integration of newly arrived immigrants.    This governing creates subject positions and puts specific groups of immigrants themselves as responsible for their own failures to integrate - especially regarding immigrants with low levels of education, who are considered simply as "un matchable" and immigrant women.

An employee’s job performance does not necessarily decrease just because the employee gets older. But there is an anticipated correlation between reduced job performance and age with respect to certain job assignments. Along with an increased life expectancy in today’s society it’s important to promote equal opportunities regardless of age. The purpose of this thesis is to clarify under witch circumstances a dismissal due to insufficient work performance is justified. Furthermore this thesis purpose is to clarify how current legislation affects elderly’s position on the Swedish labour market when it comes to dismissal due to insufficient work performance. Even though Swedish and EU provision protect senior employees rights to some extent, there are still gaps in the legislation that can disfavour elderly´s possibilities to maintain their employment. In order to answer the research questions at issue a traditional legal dogmatic method is applied in combination with a sociological law perspective.

While worker flow analysis has grown in importance in many countries, Austria still lacks a specific longitudinal dataset as a prerequisite to perform similar analyses. For this reason, this article provides a coherent procedure to construct a longitudinal dataset based on the rotational panel structure of the Austrian quarterly LFS from 2004 to 2014. The procedure, which is available for researcher, is grounded on the discussion of several related and important issues inherent in constructing this sort of longitudinal data: First, it deals with the construction of the quarterly-matched dataset and the quality-of-measurement of several labour market variables. Second, the paper analyses non-response as a sample selection process, and shows that the selected (quarterly-matched) dataset causes biased estimates of worker flows. Third, the article proposes an iterative raking procedure to obtain survey weights as a bias-correcting device for any future analysis. Based on these adjustments, we present unbiased time-series of worker flows and transition rates, and conclude that the employment-unemployment margin is highly sensitive to economic shocks and that the Austrian labour market is additionally shaped by large movements within the participation margin. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Syftet med studien var att utifrån professionellas kunskaper och unga vuxnas upplevelser undersöka hur bestämmelsen i 4 kap 4 § SoL används i praktiken samt om den möjliggör chansen till självförsörjning. Detta gjordes genom kvalitativa intervjuer med försörjningsstödshandläggare, vägledare och unga vuxna med anknytningar till undersökningsområdet. Studien är induktiv med ett hermeneutiskt förhållningssätt och materialet har analyserats med hjälp av Maslows behovshierarki, empowerment teori samt tidigare forskning. Resultatet visade på att en kompetenshöjande insats i slutändan ska leda till självförsörjning, men även utvecklar deltagarnas psykiska välbefinnande. Även om deltagandet i den kompetenshöjande verksamheten är ett krav för att få försörjningsstöd, har de unga vuxna en positiv upplevelse av verksamheten och vägledarna i motsats till tidigare forskning. Anledningen till det positiva resultatet tycks bero på det individuella stödet och utformningen. / The purpose of the study was that based on professionals' knowledge and experiences of young adults explore how the provision in chapter 4 § 4 SoL used in practice and whether it allows the chance to self-sufficiency .This was done through qualitative interviews with welfare benefits administrators, counselor , and young adults with connections to the subject .The study is inductive with a hermeneutic approach and the material has been analyzed using Maslow's hierarchy of needs , empowerment theory and previous research. The result showed that a competence-raising effort will ultimately lead to self-sufficiency, but also develops the participants' psychological well-being. Although participation in skill-enhancing activity is a requirement to receive welfare benefits, the young adults have a positive experience of the activities and counselors in contrast to previous research. The reason for the positive outcome seems to depend on the individual aid and the design.

The labour market today is characterized by flexibility and a demand on the individual of maintaining employability by remaining educated, experienced and by having a positive approach concerning being available after work hours. The aim of the study is to understand the relation between the current conditions of the labour market and its effects on employee mental health.  Throughout the study, several aspects have been investigated: Boundless work, availability after work hours, previous education, the distinction between work life and private life, and the effect of these aspects on mental health. The empirical material has been analyzed with the following theoretical framework: the Theory of Power, the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model and the Control-Demand model, including the later updated version with the third variable; work-related social support. The empirical material is gathered by eight semi- structured interviews.  The results of the study showed distinctions between how the demands of the labour market are perceived and how it affects mental health. Hence, the negative effects on mental health depend on the demands of availability after working hours, which in turn vary depending on previous education, a lack of support from manager and colleagues, and an experienced demand of employability.

Ungdomsarbetslösheten i Sverige är i förhållande till den totala arbetslösheten, i landet, hög och är en av svenska regeringens högst prioriterade frågor inom arbetsmarknadspolitiken. För att komma in på arbetsmarknaden idag måste du visa dig anställningsbar. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad kommunala arbetsgivare har för uppfattning om arbetslösa ungdomars anställningsbarhet. Syftet konkretiseras med hjälp av tre frågeställningar som syftar till att se vad betydelsen av deltagandet i aktiva arbetsmarknadsåtgärder har för anställningsbarheten, samt vad gymnasieexamen och de personliga egenskaperna betyder för anställningsbarheten. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsansats och besvarar syftet utifrån åtta kommunala arbetsgivares uppfattningar om arbetslösa ungdomars anställningsbarhet. Resultatet visar att anställningsbarhet enligt de kommunala arbetsgivarna är betydelsen av erfarenheter, kompetenser och utbildning. Studien visar även att praktik i en kommunal arbetsmarknadsåtgärd, vars syfte är att ge arbetslivserfarenhet, inte nödvändigtvis kan likställas med arbetslivserfarenhet. Deltagandet i en kommunal arbetsmarknadsåtgärd kan minska anställningsbarheten, likaså kan avsaknaden av en gymnasieexamen försvåra chansen till en anställning och en individs personliga egenskaper anses avgörande. Därför uppfylls heller inte den grundläggande anställningsbarheten. / Youth unemployment in relation to overall unemployment is high and is one of the Swedish government´s priorities in labour market policy. The purpose of this study is to investigate what idea the municipal employers have of unemployed youths ́ employability. The purpose is embodied by three questions, designed to see what importance of participation in active labour market programs, upper secondary school diploma and personality have on employability. The study is based on a qualitative research approach and answers the purpose with eight municipal employers' perceptions of unemployed young people's employability. The result indicates that employability, according to the municipal employers, is the importance of experience, skills and education. The results also indicate that the internship in a municipal labour market program, which aims to provide work experience, cannot be equated with each other. Participation in a municipal labor market program could reduce employability, as well as the lack of an upper secondary school diploma reduces the chance of an employment. The personality of an individual that is considered crucial for employment does not meet the requirements of the essential employability.

Changes in society are often discussed on an aggregated level and it is argued that society is changing from a modern industrial society to a post-industrial society. Through studying changes on a local level it is possible to study the complexity and variations of the general and aggregated theories of societal changes, and place changes in a context of time and place. The main object of this study is to analyse change in a locality. The study is a case study which studies Halmstad, a municipality on the west coast of Sweden, between the years of 1968 and 2006. The empirical material consists of analysis of demographic statistics and labour market statistics, using official statistical databases. The empirical material also consists of an analysis of official and historical documents as well as interviews with persons active in Halmstad. Three time periods are identified in the analyses which are characterised by different patterns in the population. The periods are also characterised by changes in the labour market and the employment of the population. These changes are analysed through the interplay between actors in the locality and actors and influences from outside the locality. Through the analysis of reflexivity it is shown how change and stability are interrelated through the interplay between the new and existing or innovation and tradition. / Förändringar i samhället diskuteras ofta på en aggregerad nivå där det argumenteras för att samhället förändras från ett modernt industrisamhälle till ett postindustriellt samhälle. Genom att studera samhället på en lokal nivå är det möjligt att studera komplexitet och variationer av de aggregerade teorierna kring samhällsförändring, det vill säga studera förändring i ett kontext av tid och plats. Utgångspunkten i denna studie är att analysera förändring i ett lokalsamhälle. Studien är en fallstudie av Halmstad, en kommun på Sveriges västkust, mellan åren 1968 och 2006. Det empiriska materialet består av analyser av demografisk statistik och arbetsmarknadsstatistik där offentlig statistik har används. Dessutom har analyser av officiella och historiska dokument samt intervjuer med personer aktiva i Halmstad gjorts. Tre tidsperioder identifieras i analysen, vilka karaktäriseras av olika mönster i befolkningen. Perioderna karaktäriseras även av förändringar på arbetsmarknaden och i befolkningens sysselsättning. Dessa förändringar analyseras genom samspelet mellan aktörer i lokalsamhället och aktörer och influenser som kommer utifrån. Genom analyser av reflexivitet visas hur förändring och stabilitet influeras av samspelet mellan det nya och det existerande, eller innovation och tradition.

Since 2007 the EU commission has been investigating Sweden regarding their implementation of the Council's directive 1999/70/EC concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work into Swedish law after a report to the commission from a Swedish confederation of officials, TCO. After many years and turns back and forth between the commission and the Swedish government with several failed suggestions of changes to the Swedish legislation regarding fixed-term contracts, the government presented a final suggestion that was successfully voted through and thereby new rules regarding fixed-term contracts applies in Sweden from 1 May 2016.During this whole process, and before it as well, there has been a discussion between the parties of the labour market on whether fixed-term contracts are being misused or not in Sweden. The main purpose of this essay is to shed some light on the question of this misuse of fixed-term contracts and to see what consequences such misuse, if it exists, could have on the society and specifically on the labour market integration of newly arrived citizens.If misuse of fixed-term contracts exist or not is a question of interpretation and is depending on how the labour market is viewed. There are different perspectives and different theories on how the labour market should function to best profit the society. What effects the new Swedish legislation regarding fixed-term contracts will have on the society and on the integration of newly arrived citizens in the future is yet to be shown. If the new rules regarding fixed-term contracts fulfill their purpose in strengthening the employee protection that could have a positive outcome for both newly arrived citizens and the society at large.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the extent to which educational attainment, school quality and numeric competency influence individuals’ employment and earnings prospects in the South African labour market using data from the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). While NIDS is one of the first datasets to contain concurrent information on individual labour market outcomes, educational attainment levels, numeric proficiency and the quality of schooling received in South Africa, it is also characterised by limited and selective response patterns on its school quality and numeracy measures. To account for any estimation biases that arise from the selective observation of these variables or from endogenous selection into labour force participation and employment, the labour market returns to human capital are estimated using the Heckman Maximum Likelihood (ML) approach. The Heckman ML estimates are then compared to Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimates obtained using various sub-samples and model specifications in order to distinguish between the effects that model specification, estimation sample, and estimation procedure have on estimates of the labour market returns to human capital in South Africa. The findings from the multivariate analysis suggest that labour market returns to educational attainment in South Africa are largely negligible prior to tertiary levels of attainment and that racial differentials in school quality may explain a significant component of the observed racial differentials in South African labour market earnings. Neither numeracy nor school quality appears to influence labour market outcomes or the convex structure of the labour market returns to educational attainment in South Africa significantly once sociodemographic factors and other human capital endowment differentials have been taken into account. Though the regression results vary substantially across model specifications and estimation samples, they are largely unaffected by attempts to correct for instances of endogenous selection using the Heckman ML procedure. These findings suggest that the scope for overcoming data deficiencies by using standard parametric estimation techniques may be limited when the extent of those deficiencies are severe and that some form of sensitivity analysis is warranted whenever data imperfections threaten to undermine the robustness of one’s results. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek in watter mate opvoedingspeil, skoolgehalte en numeriese vaardighede individue se werks- en verdienstevooruitsigte in die Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsmark beïnvloed. Die studie gebruik data van die 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). Alhoewel NIDS een van die eerste datastelle is wat inligting oor individuele arbeidsmarkuitkomste, opvoedingsvlakke, numeriese vaardighede sowel as skoolgehalte bevat, word dit ook gekenmerk deur beperkte en selektiewe responspatrone rakende skoolgehalte en die numeriese vaardigheidmaatstaf. Die arbeidsmarkopbrengs op menslike kapitaal word deur middel van die Heckman ‘Maximum Likelihood (ML)’-metode geskat om te kontroleer vir moontlike sydighede wat mag onstaan weens selektiewe waarneming van hierdie veranderlikes of as gevolg van endogene seleksie in arbeidsmarkdeelname of indiensneming. Die Heckman ML-skattings word dan vergelyk met gewone kleinste-kwadrate-skattings wat met behulp van verskeie modelspesifikasies en steekproewe beraam is, om sodoende te bepaal hoe verskillende spesifikasies, steekproewe en beramingstegnieke skattings van die arbeidsmarkopbrengste op menslike kapitaal in Suid-Afrika beïnvloed. Die meerveranderlike-analise dui daarop dat daar grotendeels onbeduidende arbeidsmarkopbrengste is op opvoeding in Suid-Afrika vir opvoedingsvlakke benede tersiêre vlak, en dat rasseverskille in skoolgehalte ’n beduidende deel van waargenome rasseverskille in arbeidsmarkverdienste mag verduidelik. Indien sosio-demografiese faktore en ander menslike kapitaalverskille in ag geneem word, beïnvloed syfervaardigheid en skoolgehalte nie arbeidsmarkuitkomstes en die konvekse struktuur van die arbeidsmarkopbrengste op opvoeding in Suid-Afrika beduidend verder nie. Terwyl die regressieresultate aansienlik tussen die verskillende modelspesifikasies en steekproewe verskil, word die resultate weinig geraak deur vir gevalle van endogene seleksie met behulp van die Heckman ML-metode te kontroleer. Hierdie bevindinge dui daarop dat daar net beperkte ruimte bestaan om ernstige dataleemtes met behulp van standaard parametriese beramingstegnieke te oorkom, en dat die een of ander vorm van sensitiwiteitsanalise benodig word wanneer datagebreke die betroubaarheid van die beraamde resultate nadelig kan raak.

The Swedish refugee policy during the 1930’s and during the beginning of the Second World War can be described as restrictive. In the year 1939 the number of refugees in Sweden was about 4000. By the year 1945 the number was approximately 200 000. The responsibility for the reception of the refugees was mainly the governments. Since the late 1920’s, Swedish politics where largely formed by the Social Democratic party’s idea of the welfare state. Central to this idea and embodied in society was labour as almost a moral obligation. This thesis examines the relationship between the refugees, government bodies and the labour market policies in Sweden during the years for the Second World War. The purpose is to explore the government’s labour markets bodies’ relationship to refugees and labour by studying the government’s state officials. How was this relationship organized? Much of the previous research in the related area has focused on the government’s bodies rather than their state officials. Therefor this thesis adds a new perspective to this research area. The main questions of interest are how the labour market government bodies and their state officials where organized, and the challenges they were put before in the meeting with the refugees.A hypothesis for the thesis is that refugee reception and labour market politics are linked. A natural step in the reception of refugees is for government bodies to mediate them to the labour market. Refugees tend over time to transfer to labourers. A sociological theoretical approach in the thesis is that the individual is subordinated to the governing structure. In this regard, the state officials are to be seen as acting agents through the governing structure. Hence, two following questions regarding their autonomy in this structure are interesting: where the state officials to be regarded as agents acting out the policies directed to them? Where they also able to form policies? The primary source material consists of memorandums, reports and correspondence written by state officials. The research methodology is qualitative.The thesis results show that much of the government bodies’ work was made up by compromise and the ability to adapt to the current circumstances, dictated by the war. The state officials also seem to have been able to, in smaller cases, form policies. But mainly their actions should be regarded as part of a collective larger formative element (“formativt moment”) - the war itself dictated their options and formed Swedish labour market policies. The thesis also points to new areas of research. Could the same research model be applied on other, for example neutral, countries during the same period? Keywords: The Second World War, refugee reception, refugees, labour market policies, state officials