To Örebro University

Interagency cooperation is described by policymakers as a solution to various problems within the activation policy aimed at unemployed. We problematize this by using the theory of com-peting institutional logics. The aim is to understand local activation policy by studying cooperation between municipalities. We have conducted eleven group interviews with local managers of the Public Employment Service, the municipal social assistance unit and the municipal labour market unit. The results show that cooperation is difficult due to competing institutional logics. However, cooperation as hybrid logic can to some degree handle the competing logics, using shared points of departure. One example is a joint dependency between the organizations. There are few and weak regulations that can help the Public Employment Service and the municipality to cooperate. The weak and vague rules forced the organizations to negotiate in every municipality. This makes the content of Swedish activation policy random, unclear and heavily dependent on local arbitrariness. But, while cooperation can solve problems within activation, it also can reproduce inequality. Those who depend on local activation, among whom poor, longterm unemployed, people with disabilities and non-native born Swedes are over-represented, risk having weak rights and the effectiveness of the policy can be questioned.

Samverkan mellan Arbetsförmedlingen och kommunerna lyfts av staten upp som en kungsväg till framgångsrik lokal aktiveringspolitik. Detta problematiseras med utgångspunkt i organisationernas konkurrerande logiker. Resultatet visar att samverkan kan reproducera en aktiveringspolitik som både upprätthåller en svag ställning för de arbetslösa och riskerar att leda till lokalt godtycke.

Den svenska kommunala arbetsmarknadspolitiken har expanderat sedan 1990-talet. Kommunala arbetsmarknadsåtgärder kostar 5 miljarder, involverar 5 300 årsarbetare och 110 000 deltagare årligen. Enligt den senaste kunskapssammanställningen publicerad 2012 är kunskapen om vad som görs och uppnås begränsad. I artikeln sammanfattas kunskapsläget mellan 2012-17. Vi genomför en systematisk forskningsöversikt  genom att kartlägga, redovisa och slutligen syntetisera litteraturen utifrån fyra teman: varför initieras kommunala arbetsmarknadsåtgärder, hur dessa organiseras, effekter för deltagarna samt hur det praktiska arbetet bedrivs. I artikeln dras följande slutsatser: forskningen är alltjämt begränsad, det finns få effektstudier, individualisering och decentralisering utgör centrala beståndsdelar och arbetsmarknadsåtgärderna har en tveksam kvalitet. 

Swedish municipal labor market has expanded since the 1990s involving 5,300 professionals, 110,000 participants and cost 5 billion annually. According to the latest literature review (2012), the knowledge of what is done and achieved is limited. This article present a systematic review since 2012 by synthesizing research on four themes: why are municipal labor market measures initiated, how these measures are organized, the impact and how the practical work is conducted. The conclusion is that the research continues to be limited, there are few impact studies, individualization and decentralization are key components and labor market measures have a doubtful quality.

Swedish labour market policy faces major challenges. Sweden has a labour deficit and a very low unemployment rate at the same time as unemployment is high among young people and immigrants. Unemployed in Sweden with high thresholds to enter the labour market are referred to the local labour market policy where the municipalities co-operates, competes and negotiates with the Public Employment Service (PES). The purpose of this study is to understand the organizational boundaries between PES and the municipalities and how these boundaries affects the local labour market policy in eleven municipalities. We have carried out semi-structured group interviews with managers. The boundaries between PES and the municipalities are vague and require negotiations regarding resources such as the unemployed, different forms of activities offered to the unemployed and economic resources. Clearer boundaries would generate conditions that offer unemployed people a strategic organization of the local labour market policy with enhanced co-operation and adaptation to common goals instead of competition and large amount of time spent on negotiating.

Syftet i forskningsrapporten är att analysera om och i så fall hur statlig och kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitik överlappar varandra samt om arbetslösa riskerar att varken aktualiseras inom kommunal eller statlig arbetsmarknadspolitik. Forskningsrapporten omfattar en kunskapsöversikt av forskning om kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitik samt en intervjustudie med nyckelpersoner inom statlig och kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitik i elva kommuner. Huvudresultatet i kunskapsöversikten är att kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitik är heterogen; insatserna vänder sig till skilda målgrupper, är ofta av flyktig beskafenhet, bedrivs i projektform, har otydliga mål och leder till tämligen svårbedömda effekter. En viktigt slutsats i intervjustudien är att statens styrning av arbetsmarknadspolitiken är mycket vag och resulterar i stora lokala variationer. I intervjustudien lyfts fram flera exempel på att statlig och kommunal arbetsmarknadspolitik överlappar varandra samt att arbetslösa "faller mellan stolarna".  

The idea of a European social citizenship is being developed by the EU to provide a minimum safety net. Questions about social citizenship are of fundamental importance in people's everyday lives. Social assistance is a central dimension when studying social citizenship. Before discussing in terms of a European social citizenship, we should determine whether we have a social citizenship at the national level. We therefore analyse the Swedish welfare state, one of the most mature welfare states in the EU. We conclude that the social right to social assistance is not part of modern citizenship, nor does it follow the formal principles of legal citizenship rights. The law presupposes a considerable amount of discretionary power at the local level when it comes to identifying the deserving poor; something that goes against the definition of a legal citizenship right. The right to social assistance is still a reproduction of the old poor-relief logic.

Economic security is significant for a woman’s possibility to leave a violent partner. In Sweden women under these circumstances are sometimes forced to rely on social assistance. The aim is to understand the social services’ handling of these women applying for social assistance. The study starts from a citizenship perspective, where women’s descriptions are analysed. The study is based on 13 semi-structured interviews in three municipalities with women survivors of domestic violence. These survivors have been highlighted as a prioritized group on the political arena. They meet a social assistance system which is supposed to be built on citizenship rights according to the Social Services Act. From the empirical material, however, we can conclude that the survivors’ basic needs are dependent on means tests in order to assess who is a deserving client in implemen-ting the right to social assistance based on discretionary power on the local level. The survivors describe how the case workers choose in certain cases to prioritize the municipalities’ economy over the intentions of the Social Services Act. It becomes clear that the conditions for receiving social assistance are to be given a subordinate position. The condition for being able to obtain social assistance are described by the survivors as accepting limitations of privacy, autonomy and self-determination. Summarizing, the core of the poor relief logic is that the relief can never be a right for survivors of domestic violence in Sweden.