<p> </p><p>The aim with this essay is to examine the individual's expectations in the meeting with a job coach. It has become all more common with job coaches, in order to meet the unemployment in the society. The survey builds on a quantitative method, where 29 individuals who are linked to a changeover-program towards new jobs, have replied to a questionnaire. The survey shows that the participants have expectations on the coach as a supporting function. There is also a trust to that the contact with a coach will lead to new employment. In conclusion, there is among some of the participants a view about that there is someone else than themselves that has a responsibility in order to reach employment.</p><p> </p>

<p>This thesis consists of a summary and four papers. The first two papers are theoretical contributions within the area of optimal taxation and public expenditures under asymmetric information between the government and the private sector, and the last two are empirical contributions to the literature on local public expenditures.</p><p>Paper [I] concerns the optimal use of publicly provided private goods in an economy with equilibrium unemployment. The paper points out that imperfect competition in the labor market gives rise to additional policy incentives associated with the self-selection constraint, which motivates adjustments in the public provision of private goods. It also addresses employment related motives behind publicly provided private goods.</p><p>Paper [II] addresses optimal income and commodity taxation in a dynamic economy, where used durable goods are subject to second-hand trade. In our framework, the government is unable to directly control second-hand transactions via commodity taxation. We show how the appearance of a second-hand market affects the use of commodity taxation on the new durable goods as well as the use of income taxation.</p><p>Paper [III] relates the existence and size of the flypaper effect to observable municipal characteristics. The analysis is based on a political economy model, which implies that the effect of a change in the tax base on the majority voter's tax share will be crucial for finding a flypaper effect. The empirical part is based on Swedish data on municipal expenditures and revenues for the period 1996-2004. The results show that the size of the flypaper effect varies among municipalities depending on the relative composition of grant and tax base.</p><p>In Paper [IV], the composition of municipal expenditures in Sweden is analyzed by estimating a demand system for local public services, in which tax revenue collection is treated as endogenous. The estimation is based on the QAIDS specification and uses panel data for the period 1998-2005 and for six local public services. The results show that the point estimates of the income elasticities are positive (with one exception), whereas the point estimates of the own-price elasticities are negative and less than one.</p>

<p>This thesis consists of three papers which evaluate the effects of the Adult Education Initiative (AEI) in Sweden relative to the vocational part of Labor Market Training (LMT).</p><p>Paper [I] studies unemployment incidence and unemployment duration for participants in the AEI relative to LMT. When evaluating the relative program effects on duration, one needs to take into account both the problem of selection and the fact that the outcome variable is right hand censored. The method used is an instrumental variable adaptation of the symmetrically trimmed least squares estimator. A bivariate probit model is used in order to study unemployment incidence. The results indicate a beneficial effect of the AEI relative to LMT on unemployment incidence, but longer duration in unemployment among the AEI participants.</p><p>Paper [II] uses annual wage earnings in 1999 to compare the AEI and LMT for individuals that do not continue in education following program completion. Two separate estimation methods are used, the classical selection model and the method of matching on the propensity score. The results of both methods indicate negative effects of the AEI relative to LMT on wage earnings. The earnings effect of the AEI for individuals with a weak position in the labor market is particularly poor, implying that the official target to assist those individuals appear not to have succeeded.</p><p>Paper [III] employs data for those enrolled in 1997 as well as 1998 to study the annual wage earnings of 1999 and 2000 and data on attachment to branches of employment before and after program. Data on branches of employment indicate less mobility among the AEI participants. This is largely due to a stronger attachment to the public service sector. The analysis of wage earnings of the sample enrolled in 1997, indicate that the effects on wage earnings tended to be more advantageous for the AEI in 2000 rather than 1999, possibly implying a lag in the effects of the program.</p>

<p>This composition is an qualitative study about unemployment and working life. The point of the study has been to make a larger understanding how unemployment can perceive by the individual and how this person can see and plan for future working life. This has been study with help from 8 intervirws. The paticipants has been umeployed between  6 months and 5 years, and they have workt arleast 5 year before the unemployment.</p><p>The study has show that it is many different components who contribute to how the individual perceive the time in unemployment and how the planning for the future looks like. The persons who has been intervirws perceive their psycal health as god,, even but unemployment.  The study has even show that all the persons in the study want to come out from the unemployment. All the persons in the study want to go back to the working life.</p>

<p>At the beginning of the 21st century, youth unemployment is paid attention to by the Swedish government and media. A grand part of the unemployed youth live at their parents´ house because of economic reasons contrary to their primary goal to be able to make their own living. It can be argued that the young unemployed´ s social citizenship is inferior to working citizens´ social citizenship. The thesis will not deal with suggestions on practical solutions, but rather seek for theoretical answers to whether the responsibility for the young people referred to should be a responsibility of the State or of the family. Communitarianism is a relatively young theory which is interesting for this thesis because it sheds light on the dichotomy individual - community. There are different strands within the communitarian debate. I will deal with conservative, liberal and leftist communitarianism. </p><p>The classical leftist ideal of the communitarianist community includes rights and duties for the common good and is based on the assumption of people as social beings not being able or wanting to escape from the influence of her community. Liberal communitarianism, represented foremost by Will Kymlicka and Joseph Raz, is a theoretical strand coming up as a response on the (leftist) communitarianism. Also, a theory of conservative communitarianism, which´ s ideas date back to Aristotle, can be traced in the writings of Roger Scruton. </p><p>Conclusions reached are, simplified, as follows: Conservative communitarians are prone to let the parents take theresponsibility for their children. It is a natural consequence of their view of the society as an organic unity where family life and political affairs should be separated. Leftist communitarians and liberal communitarians are less apparent in their preferences. Stressing leftist communitarians´ emphasis of citizenship duties, the responsibility of the citizen indicates that state measures should not be the first tried solution. The family has an important role for leftist communitarianists but only as a link between the individual and the state. Liberal communitarians look foremost to the individual´ s own preferences concerning medium for a solution of the unemployed´ s situation. Family is not seen as a significant institution, unless it is accredited importance by its members.</p>

<p>Work has a great influence on most of individuals in society. It influences both identity as well as the structure of the day. Unemployed people are often affected in a negative way through economic and psychological problems. In order to help people with reduced work capacity back to the labour market and decrease unemployment, the Labour Market Board works with vocational rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to investigate experiences of vocational rehabilitation within the Labour Market Board among unemployed people. A qualitative method was used by which interviews were made with 11 unemployed persons who participated in an investigation as a part of vocational rehabilitation within the Labour Market Board. The result shows both positive and negative experiences of the investigation period. The identified experiences were sorted into code groups: Support, Insight, Confidence in the investigation and result, Belief in the future, Motivation, and Participation. Both the actions of the personnel and the presence of the group members influenced the experiences. The support given by the personnel and how it is experienced is of great importance for the future of the unemployed. When the investigation was pursued during a short period of time, there was a lack of confidence in the investigation and result. A suggestions for future studies is to design a questionnaire that can be used in a larger study including a large number of individuals who are participating in vocational rehabilitation within the Labour Market Board.</p>

<p>The object of the essay was to investigate the argumentation in the bill, the comments from unions and the authorities, among others and the motions concerning the bill. To analysis this argumentation I have been using feminist theory, specifically Carole Lee Bacchis ”What’s the problem”-aproach. I also used Maud Eduards and Diane Sainsbury to complete my theory. They describe men as the norm of the society and women as deviant. The questions I have been investigating in the texts are</p><p>- What’s the problem?</p><p>- Who or what caused the problem?</p><p>- Who or what is responsible for the problem?</p><p>- Who has the responsibility to change the problem?</p><p>- What problem is not mentioned?</p><p>- Are men mentioned as a gender and a group?</p><p>- Are women mentioned as a gender and a group?</p><p>- How are men and women described?</p><p>The investigation found that the problems that was presented in the theory was very mush present in the text that I investigated. Women are seen as passive and as willingness victims of their employers. Men on the other hand are active and are mentioned as the opposite of these women. The results however varied depending on which text was studied, but the main picture remained the same.</p>

<p>Syftet med denna studie är att belysa ungdomars tankar kring sina framtida levnadsvillkor.</p><p>Genom en kvalitativ ansats intervjuades ungdomar kring frågor om vidare studier, arbete, ekonomi och huruvida de ville flytta hemifrån. Urvalsgruppen bestod av 8 ungdomar av båda könen. En avgränsning var att ungdomarna skulle gå årskurs 3 på gymnasiet.</p><p>Studiens resultat visade att ungdomarna kunde tänka sig att ta det arbete som erbjuds om de inte hade möjlighet att välja. Om de hade ett val, kunde ingen av ungdomarna i studien tänka sig att gå arbetslös och ta emot ekonomiskt bistånd i stället för att arbeta. På sikt tyckte de dock att det var viktigt att ha ett meningsfullt arbete som de trivs med och tycker är kul.</p><p>Ungdomarna tyckte att det var viktigt att få en bra utbildning då detta är avgörande för hur man klarar sig i framtiden. De kunde tänka sig att flytta för att få den utbildning de vill ha.</p><p>Sammanfattningsvis visade resultatet att ungdomarna föredrog att försörja sig genom arbete, studielån eller att ta emot hjälp från föräldrar. De såg ekonomiskt bistånd som en sista utväg som de dock skulle ta emot om inget annat återstod.</p>

<p>Using data from the Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa twice yearly this thesis intend to evaluate the Expanded Public Works Programme regarding its effectiveness in creating employment and raising income in households with participating individuals. The South African labour market is well known for its high rates of unemployment and also its segregation, primarily between black and white people, but also young people are having a hard time finding jobs. In order to fight these problems the South African government has launched the Expanded Public Works Programme(EPWP) which provides low- semi-skilled labour with short term employment, the primary target groups being black and coloured people, women, disabled people and young people. Our findings indicate that the EPWP does not significantly enhance the individual’s probability of being employed, nor does it raise the per capita income of households with participating individuals.</p>

<p>The number of persons who are not employed has increased in Sweden since the early 1990s. Unemployment has been found to influence health, especially when unemployment rates are low. The extent to which unemployment affects health when unemployment is high is less clear, and this needs to be further studied. To improve health in the population, the health care system should offer equal access to health care according to need. It is important to study whether the employment status hinders the fulfilment of this goal. </p><p>This thesis is based on four papers: Paper I and II aimed at analysing self-rated health versus mortality risk in relation to employment status, during one period of low unemployment and one period of high unemployment. Paper III and IV assessed the use of medical health care services and unmet care needs among persons who were unemployed or otherwise not employed. The goal was to analyse what health problems lead people to either seek or abstain from seeking care, and what factors encumber or facilitate this process. </p><p>The overall results indicate that being unemployed or outside the labour force was associated with an excess risk of poor self-rated health, symptoms of depression, mental and physical exhaustion and mortality. The differences in self-rated health between the unemployed and employed were larger when unemployment levels were high, than when they were low. More groups of the unemployed were also afflicted with poor health when unemployment was high. Thus, poor health among the unemployed seems to be a public health problem during high levels of unemployment. Lack of employment was related to abstaining from seeking care, despite perceiving a need for care, and this was related to psychological symptoms. To deal with the needs of the unemployed and others who are outside the labour force it would be useful to develop and implement interventions within the health care system. These should focus on psychological and psychosocial problems. Future research should analyse how to facilitate health-promoting interventions among persons who are not anchored in the labour market. </p>