| 1. |
- Bäckman, Olof, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Early school leaving in Scandinavia : extent and labour market effects
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 25:3, s. 253-269
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article explores the extent to which the organization of vocational tracks in upper secondary school affects the labour market risks associated with early school exit. The Nordic countries share many features, but the upper secondary school systems differ significantly in how their vocational tracks are organized. Denmark and Norway have dual vocational tracks, that is, they combine school-based education and workplace apprenticeships, whereas in Finland and Sweden they are primarily school based. We analyse administrative longitudinal data from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s in the four countries and find the highest vocational track dropout rates in Norway and the lowest in Finland. The results indicate that the relative labour market effect of dropping out from a vocational track is most detrimental in Norway. It is also in Norway that we find the greatest gender differences in this respect.
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| 2. |
- Eldén, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Nanny care in Sweden : The inequalities of everyday doings of care
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; , s. 614-626
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Political initiatives such as tax deductions for domestic services, including nannies, has, together with a growing au pair market paved the way for new possibilities of organizing child care in Sweden. This affects the everyday ‘local care loops’ for the upper middle-class families purchasing the services; the logistics of solving the work/family dilemma is changed through the possibility of hiring of cheap female – and often migrant – care workers. In this paper we analyse practice of care and family (Morgan 1996, 2011) in families who employ nannies and au pairs. Taking our point of departure in the narratives of all the participating actors – nannies/au pairs (n=26), parents (n=29) and children receiving care (n=19) – we show how this ‘doing of family’ is reproducing inequalities between families: the new local care loops enable a possibility for some – well-off – parents to realize the (highly valued) ideals of gender-equality and ‘good and stress-free parenting’. We also show how this reproduces inequalities within families. The narratives of everyday care situations told by nannies, au pairs and children entail evidence of invisible and complex ‘sentient’ care activities (Mason 1996; Tronto 1998) that diverge remarkably from the explicit characterizing of the work as easy and independent. This discrepancy makes nanny/au pair work into an exploitation of gendered care doings, similar to the care performed in families traditionally, by wives and mothers (DeVault 1991), but now obscured by the nanny/au pairs’ subordinate status. In conclusion, classed, gendered and ethnic inequalities are, characterizing the new ‘local care loops’ being encouraged and enabled in Sweden. The driving forces are to be found on a macro level, in processes of globalization, and in political and policy changes, but the consequences are detectable in everyday interactions in the micro-settings of the home.
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| 3. |
- Halleröd, Björn, 1960, et al.
(författare)
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In-work poverty and labour market trajectories: Poverty risks among the working population in 22 European Countries
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 25:5, s. 473-488
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Is in-work poverty a low-wage or an unemployment problem, and is it the same problem all across Europe? Because of the definitional ambiguity, we really do not know. In this article, we use longitudinal European Union-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data from 22 countries and derive a set of distinct clusters of labour market trajectories (LMTs) from information about monthly labour market position from a 36-month observation window and estimate in-work poverty risk for each LMT. The results show that in-work poverty is a problem that affects the self-employed and people in a marginal labour market position, that is, those who for different reasons move in and out of employment. Hence, in-work poverty is mainly an unemployment problem, not a low-wage problem. Besides the fact that the size of LMTs varies between countries, we also expected to find systematic country differences in the effect of LMTs. The analysis did not support that assumption.
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| 4. |
- Heap, Josephine, et al.
(författare)
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Associations between and coexistence of disadvantages in the oldest old people in Sweden : Patterns of change between 1992 and 2011
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 28:3, s. 197-210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explored changes in the associations between and coexistence of disadvantages in several dimensions of living conditions in the oldest old people in Sweden. We used nationally representative data from 1992 (n = 537), 2002 (n = 621) and 2011 (n = 931). Indicators of limited social resources, limited political resources, limited financial resources, psychological health problems, physical health problems and functional limitations were used. The probability of reporting coexisting disadvantages tended to increase and was particularly elevated in 2002. Physical health problems became more common, and functional limitations, limited financial resources and limited political resources became less common during the studied period. Associations between health-related disadvantages remained fairly stable, whereas associations including other kinds of disadvantages varied somewhat over the studied period. These changes suggest that in general, the composition of coexisting disadvantages is likely to have altered over time. Consequently, the challenges faced by disadvantaged groups in 2011 may have been different from those in 1992. Moreover, the healthcare and social care services directed to older people have undergone significant changes during the past decades. These changes to the system accentuate the vulnerability of people experiencing coexisting disadvantages.
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| 5. |
- Hobson, Barbara, et al.
(författare)
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Migrants, markets and domestic work : Do institutional contexts matter in the personal household service sector?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 28:4, s. 386-401
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article compares Spain and Sweden, dissimilar in their welfare/care, migration and employment regimes; however, both have experienced expansions of private markets for personal household services where migrants are over-represented. Using Sen's capabilities framework as a point of departure, we explore the extent to which regime differences shaping the dynamics of personal household service markets are reflected in the capabilities and well-being of migrants employed in them. Despite variations in employment regimes and market structures, we found more similarities than differences in capabilities and well-being. Institutional contexts mattered for the access to entitlements and capabilities for alternative choices in employment, discernible in the more positive perceptions of future possibilities and potential agency to leave the sector among migrants in Sweden than in Spain. The analysis is based on 90 semi-structured interviews, as well as findings from two national migrant surveys and interviews with stakeholders.
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| 6. |
- Högberg, Björn, et al.
(författare)
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Ageing, health inequalities and the welfare state : a multilevel analysis
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - London : Sage Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 28:4, s. 311-325
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Comparative studies of health inequalities have largely neglected age and ageing aspects, while ageing research has often paid little attention to questions of social inequalities. This article investigates cross-country differences in gradients in self-rated health and limiting long-standing illness (LLSI) in middle-aged and in older people (aged 50–64 and 65–80 years) linked to social class, and degrees to which the social health gradients are associated with minimum pension levels and expenditure on elderly care. For these purposes, data from the European Social Survey (2002–2010) are analysed using multilevel regression techniques. We find significant cross-level interaction effects between class and welfare policies: higher expenditure on elderly care and particularly more generous minimum pensions are associated with smaller health inequalities in the older age group (65–80 years). It is concluded that welfare policies moderate the association between social class and health, highlighting the importance of welfare state efforts for older persons, who are strongly reliant on the welfare state and welfare state arrangements such as pensions and care policies.
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| 7. |
- Kalm, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Immigration policy and the modern welfare state, 1880–1920
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 29:4, s. 463-477
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article puts contemporary debates about the relationship between immigration policy and the welfare state in historical perspective. Relying on new historical data, the article examines the relationship between immigration policy and social policy in Western Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the modern welfare state emerged. Germany already had comparably strict immigration policies when the German Empire introduced the world’s first national social insurances in the 1880s. Denmark, another early social-policy adopter, also pursued restrictive immigration policies early on. Almost all other countries in Western Europe started out with more liberal immigration policies than Germany’s and Denmark’s, but then adopted more restrictive immigration policies and more generous social policies concurrently. There are two exceptions, Belgium and Italy, which are discussed in the article.
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| 8. |
- Minas, Renate, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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The governance of poverty : Welfare reform, activation policies, and social assistance benefits and caseloads in Nordic countries
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 28:5, s. 487-500
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social assistance benefits are the last resort in national social protection systems, and decentralizing reforms leading to increasing local discretion over implementation of national legislation was an international trend frequently referred to as devolution. More recent reforms have instead often implied recentralization and/or involved mandatory institutional cooperation between welfare agencies located at different hierarchical levels. In contrast to North America, there is little European evidence on the extent to which shifting responsibilities influence benefit levels and benefit receipt. Using individual level register data from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and applying a difference-in-difference approach, we link changes in legislation to changes in municipal benefits as well as caseloads during the period 1990–2010. We only find indications of reform effects linked to distinct benefit centralization, concluding that other reforms were too insubstantial to have an impact. Combined with earlier evidence, this suggests that in order to have an impact, welfare reform requires marked changes in authority.
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| 9. |
- Moberg, Linda, et al.
(författare)
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User choice in Swedish eldercare : conditions for informed choice and enhanced service quality
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 26:3, s. 281-295
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proponents of user choice argue that this type of policy arrangement improves the quality of public social services since users are expected to select the most highly performing providers. In order for users to make informed choices, however, they need quality information about the services offered by different providers. In this article, we carry out a case study, investigating whether information about service quality was presented to users of home-based elderly care in Sweden. The analysis is based on unique data regarding the information of 223 providers in 10 municipalities. The results suggest that the information was poor and lacking in important quality dimensions. This indicates a lack of real user power since it is virtually impossible for users to make informed choices without relevant information. It also makes it less likely that the general quality level of home-based services will increase as a result of the user choice.
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| 10. |
- Mood, Carina, 1973-
(författare)
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The not-very-rich and the very poor : Poverty persistence and poverty concentration in Sweden
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : SAGE Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 25:3, s. 316-330
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We question the common description of poverty in Western countries as largely brief and transient and show that the spell-based analyses from which this view stems diverts attention from the bulk of poverty, which is persistent rather than transient. Measures of poverty concentration are suggested. Using Swedish population data spanning 18years (1990-2007, N (persons*years)=102,754,809), we can avoid problems that plague poverty research using survey data and can give precise calculations of completed durations without relying on questionable assumptions. The majority of poverty years were experienced by people in long-term poverty: 69percent of all poverty years over the 18-year period fell on people with 5years or more in poverty. Half of all poverty years were borne by only 5percent of the population, meaning that poverty was highly concentrated. This speaks in favour of the social policy efficiency in targeting a small group of long-term poor.
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