The New Welfare State. Experiences in the Everyday Work Life of Swedish Employment Agency Officers

Abstract: During the past decades, the Swedish welfare state has been transformed in profound ways. Many important changes are related to the labour market, particularly the organisation of the unemployed. The unemployment insurance, as well as the health insurance system has changed dramatically, resulting in implications for the organisation of work at the Swedish National Employment Agency, Arbetsförmedlingen. This thesis explores how these changes have affected the everyday work of the employment officers, especially those who are working with people with disabilities that hinder gainful employment. The aim is to investigate how they experience the changes and implications of these changes in their day-to-day work. The research questions are: What kind of changes have been made in the Swedish welfare system? How have said changes contributed to enabling participation in the labour market for people with disabilities that hinder work? How have said changes affected the work situation for officers of Arbetsförmedlingen working with vocational rehabilitation? The thesis is based on a feminist methodology, and the theoretical framework is based on a feminist critique of capitalism. The study is qualitative, and the material of analysis consists of eight semi-structured interviews, created with ten informants working as officers of Arbetsförmedlingen. The analytical approach is to analyse the processes and systems that organise the informants’ work situation, rather than the actual actions of the informants or their clients. The results display how Arbetsförmedlingen have been assigned to work with a group of people without having the adequate resources to do so, and how the informants feel that they do not have a say in the organisation of work. The State assigns responsibility for structural unemployment upon individuals, and it is therefore argued that the State claims nonresponsibility for their employees, and their citizens. It is also argued that the State reinforces inequality among job-seekers with disabilities that hinder work, by demanding counter performances in order to receive any kind of financial support from the State and thus construct further polarisation between jobseekers. These changes seem to enable participation in the labour market, but only if the unemployed citizens conform to the norm of the ideal citizen.