Making the Poor Work : Social Assistance and Activation in Sweden
Author
Summary, in English
Social assistance in Sweden developed in the 1980s in the direction of an income guarantee for all citizens. During the 1990s, policies have changed towards activation and control. The growth of the recipient population is described. Occasional receipt of social assistance has been rather common and not limited to extremely disadvantaged groups. Long-term and permanent receipt of social assistance has increased considerably during the 1990s, often in combination with a marginal labour market position, and without eligibility for social insurance, which is strongly work-related. The main direction of the process is problems of entry to the labour market rather than exclusion of the already established. Results on scope, duration and patterns of social assistance are presented and analysed in relation to the labour market and immigration.
The city of Malmö is described and analysed as an example of a development towards increasing labour market marginalisation and long-term receipt of social assistance, with special attention to the disadvantaged and segregated areas of the city. This development has to large extent been determined by external factors as global economic change and migration.
Activation programs are often proposed as a solution to these problems. Evaluation methods and results from effect evaluations of such programs are discussed in the last part of the work. Results from an evaluation of activation programs in Malmö are presented. According to the available evidence, such programs have quite modest effects on work and income and structural change is necessary to reduce social exclusion.
Department/s
Publishing year
2004
Language
English
Publication/Series
Lund Dissertations in Social Work
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
School of Social Work, Lund University
Topic
- Social Work
Keywords
- unemployment
- social assistance
- activation
- welfare-to-work
- marginalisation
- social exclusion
- Social problems and welfare
- immigration
- national insurance
- Sociala problem
- social välfärd
- socialförsäkring
Status
Published
Supervisor
- [unknown] [unknown]
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1650-3872
- ISBN: 91-89604-25-3
Defence date
11 June 2004
Defence time
10:15
Defence place
Edebalksalen, Socialhögskolan, Bredgatan 26
Opponent
- Iver Hornemann Møller (Professor)