Den stora ökningen av antalet nyanlända migranter medför nya utmaningar på den svenska arbetsmarknaden och utbildningssystemet. Föreliggande studie är del av ett projekt som ur psykologiska och intersektionella perspektiv utforskar hur nyanlända migranters anställningsbarhet konstrueras och uppfattas. Ett psykologiskt perspektiv fokuserar på individens konstruktion och upplevelse av sin egen anställningsbarhet och vilka beteenden (t ex jobbsökande) denna upplevelse gör tänkbara och uppfattas som möjliga. Intersektionella perspektiv åskådliggör hur sociala kategoriseringar, såsom kön, ålder och utbildning, och kategoriseringen som nyanländ migrant, samverkar i hur nyanlända konstruerar uppfattningar av möjligheter och hinder att anställas. Syftet med studien är att utforska konstruktioner och omformuleringar av migranters anställningsbarhet i en svensk kontext, genom att undersöka råd, rekommendationer och föreskrifter för hur nyanlända migranter kan få tillträde till arbetsmarknaden. Detta kan t ex ske genom validering av tidigare utbildning eller reell kompetens. Offentligt material som är relaterat till anställningsbarhet och kompetens- och karriärutveckling, och information till nyanlända inom ramen för Arbetsförmedlingens etableringsuppdrag analyseras. Föreliggande presentation fokuseras på de möjligheter och svårigheter som tillskrivs nyanlända akademiker.

Perceptions of one’s capability to obtain employment, to change or keep one’s job – i.e. employability perceptions – are important assets in our flexible working life (Berntson, 2008). Present day society is strongly influenced by neoliberalism, in which people are regarded as free and transferable individuals, with the capacity to make their own decisions on all aspects of education, work and career (e.g., Davies et al., 2005; Gazso, 2007). Evaluations of potential employees should be based on qualifications and competences, not attributes such as cultural background, gender and ethnicity. Hence, this entails at least superficially a belief in the equal treatment of all employees, and individual responsibility for successful navigation through the labour market. However, norms, presuppositions and contradictions within neoliberal discourses point towards inequality (c.f. Allen et al., 2013; Calas & Smircich, 2006; Kusterer, 2014), and masculine ideals linked to a white, heterosexual normality pervade (e.g., Holgersson, 2003; Mählck, 2012).

The present study aims to explore constructions and reformulations of migrants’ employability, as well as recommendations and prescriptions of how newly arrived migrants should succeed in entering the Swedish labour market. Public documents comprising employability and associated concepts such as competence building and career development are being collected. In order to understand how these concepts are communicated to migrants, we examine information to newly arrived migrants regarding introductory activities and programmes to increase employability. Tentative results demonstrate that although it is assumed that migrants largely lack Swedish language skills, information written in Swedish is often more elaborate than translated versions. The construction of the employable individual builds on tacit assumptions concerning the ability to bring forward required psychological and human capital, in order to appear desirable to potential employers. It seems crucial to be able to measure and verify required competencies and experiences, and perhaps more importantly to work on how you come across to others. Individual employability can thus be constructed as a form of marketing strategy (c.f. Fejes, 2009). Contradictions and shifts between a neoliberal discourse and a social welfare discourse are also noticeable. These shifts could be debilitating for the migrants’ pursuits towards increased employability and career continuance.

In the flexible Swedish labour market, the concept of employability has grown important. Within a neoliberal framework, accountability for one’s possibility to successfully obtain or keep employment rests with the individual. In contrast, within a social welfare discourse the individual is offered care and support in order to gain employment. The present study combined intersectional and discourse analytical approaches with the understanding that individual employability is subjectively constructed in the exploration of labour market induction, employability constructions and categorizations in the discourse used by government agencies directly involved in the labour market integration of newly arrived migrants. Public documents comprising information on labour market entrance, employability and associated concepts such as competence building and career development were analysed. The employability constructions were often contradictory—placed at the crossroads of neoliberal and social welfare discourses—and built on tacit assumptions and influenced by stereotypes. Conveying such employability constructions further could lead to exclusion from long-term employment and have detrimental psychological and health repercussions. Instead, it is of importance to work towards reconstructing migrants’ employability in this new context without damaging influence from inflexible categorizations and stereotypes.

Perceptions of one’s capability to obtain employment, to change or keep one’s job are growing more important as our working life is becoming ever more flexible (Berntson, 2008). Present day society is strongly influenced by neoliberalism, in which people are regarded as free and transferable individuals, capable of making their own decisions on all aspects of education, work and career (e.g., Davies et al., 2005; Gazso, 2007). Superficially, this entails a belief in equal treatment of all employees. Evaluations should be based on qualifications and competences, not attributes such as cultural background, gender and ethnicity. However, norms, presuppositions and contradictions within neoliberal discourses point towards inequality (c.f. Allen et al., 2013; Calas & Smircich, 2006; Kusterer, 2014). Sweden is considered one of the most progressive countries in the world in terms of gender equality; nevertheless, society and its organisations are pervaded by masculine ideals related to a white, heterosexual normality (e.g., Holgersson, 2003; Mählck, 2012). There are large differences between Swedish-born and foreign born residents in the labour market, for example regarding unemployment rates and participation in the labour force, and these differences are often gendered (SCB 2014, 2016).

The present project aims to investigate how aspects associated with employability – directly or indirectly – can highlight possiblities and difficulties for migrants in their establishment in the Swedish labour market. Psychological and intersectional perspectives are used to explore how employability is constructed for and perceived by foreign born women and men residing in Sweden. This entails a focus on the subjective and individual experiences, as well as on how public and official discourses and practices are exhibited and used by public authorities, recruitment firms and media. We start by collecting public documents on employability and associated concepts such as competence building and career development. We give special attention to information on programmes for newly arrived migrants and other temporary measures to resist long-term unemployment. In a second step, interviews are conducted with individuals who have taken part in such programmes, and with employees from organisations involved in training and recruitment, as well as government officials concerned with these issues. At the conference, we will present preliminary results on the construction of employability within one programme for newly arrived migrants, and compare this with the view of employability displayed in interviews with unemployed Swedish-born residents who have taken part in a programme to resist long-term unemployment.

Arbetsmarknadsetablering av migranter i Sverige innefattar både möjligheter till arbetskraft för arbetsgivare och meningsfull sysselsättning och försörjning för den enskilde. Denna är dock kantad av hinder i arbetsmarknadsintegration och förmåga att ta tillvara på kompetens som utvecklats utanför Sverige. Hindren är särskilt uttalade för personer som saknar gymnasieutbildning eller formell yrkesutbildning. Arbetskraftsdeltagandet är lägre för utlandsfödda än för svenskfödda, och kvinnliga flyktingar och asylinvandrare med lågutbildningsnivå står utanför arbetsmarknaden i mycket stor utsträckning. Därtill satsas mindre resurser på arbetsmarknadsintegration för kvinnor än för män, och det är även en lägre andel kvinnor med låg utbildning som väljer att delta i Arbetsförmedlingens etableringsinsatser. Föreliggande studie ingår i ett delprojekt inom Integration Gävleborg 2.0, ett forsknings- och utvecklingsprojekt som drivs av Länsstyrelsen Gävleborg. Gävleborg har tagit emot ett stort antal nyanlända och regionen har generellt låg utbildningsnivå och hög arbetslöshet i jämförelse med riksgenomsnittet. Dessa aspekter gör arbetsmarknadsetablering särskilt svår för migranter med begränsad skolgång. Det har också blivit tydligt hur coronapandemin ytterligare begränsat möjligheterna till arbetsmarknadsetablering och integration. 

För många migranter från utomeuropeiska länder tar det lång tid att etablera sig i Sverige. Det gäller i synnerhet personer med låg utbildning, och särskilt kvinnor som saknar erfarenhet av lönearbete i hemlandet. Denna rapport handlar om migranter i Gävleborgs län, som fått asyl i Sverige, avslutat etableringsperioden och stod utanför den reguljära arbetsmarknaden år 2020. Under 2020 genomfördes intervjuer med 23 personer i tre kommuner som gick på SFI. Knappt tre år senare (2023) kontaktade vi deltagarna igen för att ta reda på om de kommit närmare arbetsmarknadsetablering och hur de såg på sin livssituation och framtid. Vi fick kontakt med 13 personer varav 8 medverkade i en ny intervju. För att öka förståelsen för migranternas perspektiv har vi dessutom intervjuat 10 personer från andra kommuner med liknande bakgrund och livssituation som de ursprungliga deltagarna. Resultaten visar att nästan alla respondenter hade kommit närmare arbetsmarknaden och såg ljusare på tillvaron än under 2020. Samtliga hade kommit ut på arbetsplatser genom praktik och anställningar, och många hade gått eller gick på yrkesutbildningar. Att behärska svenska språket upplevdes centralt. Det betraktades som nyckeln till att kunna få ett arbete, samtidigt som arbetet sågs som det bästa sättet att utveckla språket. Det förefaller vara ganska stora skillnader mellan vilket stöd migranter i olika kommuner får. Migranterna uttryckte också stora variationer avseende behov av stöd, vilka hinder de mötte, och i vilken utsträckning de kunde styra sin tillvaro och bestämma en väg framåt. Alla var motiverade till att arbeta och skapa en bättre framtid för sig och sina barn, men det var tydligt att myndigheterna behöver anpassa sina insatser till varje persons individuella förutsättningar för att kunna realisera detta. 

Akademin och forskningens villkor undergår en mängd granskningar, och ett fokus på genus och jämställdhet har varit närvarande i denna forskning under en längre tid. Dock har andra maktordningar, så som etnicitet, klass eller funktionsvariation, lämnats utanför dessa granskningar, vilket är särskilt tydligt gällande forskningen som bedrivs i Sverige och studiet av den svenska akademin. Det är av stor vikt att undersöka dessa processer i strävan mot ett inkluderande och hållbart arbetsliv. Rekryteringsprocesser och tilldelning av forskningsmedel har ofta visat sig missgynna kvinnor och minoriteter. Samtidigt ses erhållandet av forskningsmedel som en kvalitetsstämpel. Likaså poängteras betydelsen av antalet publikationer i vetenskapliga tidskrifter och citeringsmått, dvs. hur frekvent artik-larna är refererade till. Vilka bedömningskriterier som används, och hur dessa konstrueras och tillämpas, har visat sig vara både svårartikulerat och variera mellan forsknings-discipliner, samt mellan och inom specifika kontexter, så som inom en professors-rekrytering eller granskning av en ansökan om befordran till professor.

Syfte: Inom ramen för ett projekt som utforskar hur forskningsmeriter för kvinnor och män med eller utan utländsk bakgrund konstrueras och värderas i sakkunnigprocesser, fokuseras i denna presentation på bedömningskriterier för rekrytering och befordring av professorer.

Metod: Sakkunnigutlåtanden och rekryteringsgruppers protokoll från samtliga 50 professorsrekryteringar (drygt 370 sökande) under en femårsperiod från ett av Sveriges ledande universitet har granskats, och tillämpningen av olika bedömningskriterier har kodats genom en innehållsanalys. Jämförelser har gjorts mellan olika vetenskapsområden, och betydelsen av sökandes kön och etnicitet (vilken del av världen sökande kommer ifrån) har utforskats. En annan studie har fokuserat på betydelsen av antalet publikationer för individers möjlighet till professorsbefordran inom fyra olika ämnesområden (inkl. psykologi, nationalekonomi, delar av biologi respektive fysik). Även här undersöks betydelsen av sökandes kön och etnicitet.

Resultat: Resultaten pekar på olikheter i vilka bedömningskriterier som betonas i sak-kunnigutlåtandena, och hur skiftande dessa kriterier konstrueras (ibland explicit formulerat av sakkunniga, men oftare för-givet-tagna tolkningar). Det är en stor variation i hur enskilda sakkunniga (inom och mellan de olika utlysningarna) konstruerar exemp-elvis kärnområdet för en utlysning, hur vetenskapliga publikationer eller doktorand-handledning värderas samt betydelsen av pedagogisk meritering. Relevanta meriter, så som de formulerats i utlysningstexten, belyses inte alltid systematiskt och likvärdigt. Det finns vissa tecken på att sökande från utlandet kan bedömas annorlunda än sökande med starkare anknytning till Sverige, och särskilt universitetet i fråga. Detta kommer att undersökas vidare i kommande analyser. Resultat från studien som undersöker betydelsen av antalet publikationer för professorbefordran väntas bli klart inom kort, och kan belysa hur just detta bedömningskriterium används.

In Sweden, it is estimated that around 68,000 girls and women have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice described as gross violence and a violation of human rights with extensive health consequences. The study presented in this report was participatory research of a local project aiming to increase knowledge and develop work routines to prevent and detect FGM, resulting in a cooperation agreement between the participating organizations. The study was carried out to examine the project's importance for the development of knowledge, working methods and collaboration regarding FGM prevention, detection, and support. Questionnaires were sent out on three different occasions to all employees within the participating organizations, and interviews were conducted at the beginning of their work and after the project was completed. We also participated in the reference group's recurring meetings and, together with the project manager, developed a model that could function as a support in designing routines and action plans.

The results indicated that the participants considered FGM as an existing problem and that they expected to meet girls and women who have been exposed or are at risk of FGM. The project had contributed to the development of working methods, routines, and readiness to detect and counter FGM and to help girls and women who have been exposed, and that more employees were familiar with such routines at the end of the project, but to what extent these are used is still unclear. There were no indications that the target group were asked questions about FGM more often or that cases of FGM had increased.

The results have implications for the design of development work countering FGM. Based on the experiences of the professionals and the model that was developed, the work needs to be well anchored within management and prioritized in the organization. Another important aspect is that professionals obtain basic knowledge of FGM and that clear routines are devised to ask questions about FGM, detect FGM and deal with FGM cases. A third important point of departure for this work is the development of forms and routines for cooperation between organizations. The study raises questions about how basic knowledge, routines, cooperation, and communication can be maintained over time, especially in organizations were cases of FGM rarely occur.

Sweden is known for its political will to gender equality. Sweden is also a country with a strong tradition of transparency in university recruitments. In this article, the assessment practices in the appointment of full professors in one Swedish university are investigated from an intersectional and postcolonial perspective on gender and place/space. Using a multimethod approach to investigate written evaluations of applicants, recruitment group meeting minutes and interviews with reviewers, the results show that there is great variation in how evaluation criteria are applied and filled with meaning. Moreover, in more than half of the appointment decisions the reviewers disagreed. The interview results show a structural bias operating towards researchers applying from non-Western university contexts. At an aggregated level, national applicants have 3.88 times greater chance to be proposed for a position and national women applicants are the most likely to be proposed for the position.

Domestic violence is a wide-spread problem in Swedish society (Frenzel, 2014). Despite its gravity, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the usefulness of preventive methods (Jämställdhetsmyndigheten, 2019). Huskurage is a method to prevent, inhibit and discontinue men’s violence against women and domestic violence. The method is used in residential areas throughout Sweden. Important aspects of the method are to increase public awareness of domestic violence and the readiness to act on suspicions of violence in one’s vicinity. During 2020, Huskurage was implemented in three parts of Gävle city (Nordost/Norr, Gävle Strand/Alderholmen and Öster).  The work of implementing and disseminating Huskurage is done by the city of Gävle in co-operation with the housing company and some other actors. The University of Gävle conducted a research project to monitor the implementation and evaluate its impact. The purpose of the project was to examine how the implementation of Huskurage was carried out in these three parts of the city, and thereby identify successful aspects, challenges and suggestions for improvement. The project also aimed to examine changes in awareness and attitudes toward domestic violence, readiness to act on suspicion of violence toward a neighbour, and perceptions of safety in one’s residential area following the implementation of Huskurage. Another aim was to examine whether attitudes toward domestic violence and readiness to act on suspicion of violence are associated with an individual’s gender and extent of prosocialness. Qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals who worked with the implementation. A quantitative study was conducted that targeted the beliefs of the residents in the three areas. One questionnaire was sent out to all adult (18+ years) residents before the implementation of Huskurage, and a follow-up questionnaire was sent out 6 months later. Documents such as meeting minutes and email correspondence was also gathered. The results illuminate how different aspects regarding cooperation, commitment and communication can enhance work practices. The results also indicate that Huskurage can contribute to an increased readiness to act on suspicions of violence in one’s residential area. Furthermore, there are gender differences in attitudes toward domestic violence and the method Huskurage.

Integration Gävleborg 2.0 – Interview study on perceived possibilities and obstacles for labour market establishment of migrants with low education

This report is a part of the research and development project Integration 2.0 Gävleborg, with the County Administrative Board of Gävleborg as principal investigator. It is financed by the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The purpose of this sub-project is to understand from an individual perspective how relatively newly arrived migrants with a low educational background reason about their conditions, expectations, obstacles and opportunities for establishment in the Swedish labour market. The participating migrants reside in the Region Gävleborg, which has a high unemployment rate and a lower educational level compared to other regions in Sweden. The region has also received a large number of newly arrived migrants in recent years. Four research questions have been articulated: 

• What resources do the individuals have/lack?
• How do the individuals consider their employment opportunities?
• What help and support do authorities, employers and civil society offer the migrants and how is it perceived by the individuals? 
• What structural obstacles in the establishment process do the migrants describe?

A total of 23 interviews were conducted with migrants taking part in Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), who reside in three different municipalities in Region Gävleborg. The results show that the participants are motivated to work, but many of them had never experienced paid employment, and very few had work experience from the regular labour market in Sweden. The participants have a vague knowledge of many authorities and sometimes inaccurate ideas of how the Swedish Public Employment Service functions. For many participants, SFI and SFI teachers are essential as a link to Swedish society. Nonetheless, there is a need for more differentiated and individualised forms of teaching because of the participants’ varying needs and requirements. In addition, more precise and recurring information for the individual migrant is needed to make explicit what is expected of them in order to obtain employment, and to clarify what the Public Employment Service can do to increase their employment opportunities. It also appears important to re-evaluate and promote the participants’ strengths and previous work-related experiences. This could strengthen their employability perceptions and increase their chances of labour market establishment.