Makeshift Work in a Changing Labour Market

Whatever happened to the Swedish model? Once the prime example of a Nordic welfare state, Sweden's labour market is now a highly individualized competitive arena. With attention to detail as well as global trends, this important book describes the dismantling of the Swedish welfare state across various arenas where being employable is increasingly framed as an individual responsibility. This book offers unique insight into current shifts from state to market, from institutional loyalty to marketing of self.' - Marianne Lien, University of Oslo, Norway'What remains of the emblematic Swedish model of the welfare state? Taking the example of labor market policy, Makeshift Work brings to light a major shift: from the commodification of work to the commodification of workers. In depth empirical investigations into the institutional and individual consequences of this shift make this book a reference for understanding the current transformations in Swedish society and more generally brings into focus the challenges facing Europe as a whole.' - Benedicte Zimmermann, EHESS, France 'The rise and development of the Swedish model of labour market policy has been thoroughly dealt with in many important social science and economic analyses, but the present dismantling of the model and its consequences have only started to be understood. This book is therefore an extremely important contribution in that it combines concrete analyses of changes in the infrastructure of employment services and of the implications thereof from a human perspective.' - Jan Ch. Karlsson, Karlstad University, Sweden In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, people who had never before had cause to worry about losing their jobs entered the ranks of the unemployed for the first time. In Sweden, the welfare state has been radically challenged and mass unemployment has become a reality in what used to be viewed as a model case for a full employment society. With an emphasis on Sweden in the context of transnational regulatory change, Makeshift Work in a Changing Labour Market discusses how the market mediates employment and moves on to explore the ways in which employees adjust to a new labor market. Focusing on the legibility, measurability and responsibility of jobseekers, the expert contributors to this book bring together an analysis of activation policy and new ways of organizing the mediation of work, with implications for the individual jobseeker. Students and researchers of labor market policy, the organization of markets and work and society both in Sweden and abroad will find this book to be of interest. Policy makers will find the empirical examples of policy processes among employees an extremely useful and insightful tool.