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Deemed as ‘Distant’: Categorizing Unemployment in Sweden’s Evolving Welfare Landscape

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  • Maja Östling

    (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University, SE-851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden)

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, Swedish labor market politics has swayed towards stronger workfare tendencies, emphasizing activation requirements for unemployed individuals to access welfare benefits. This process aligns with broader neoliberal reforms, fostering an individualistic view of unemployment characterized by personal responsibility for employability. In 2023, the Swedish Public Employment Service (PES) published a report addressing the needs of and solutions for long-term unemployed individuals ‘distant from the labor market’ (Sw. personer långt från arbetsmarknaden), marking the first formal use of this term as the main adhesive category in a political document. This paper examines the construction of the subject position ‘distant from the labor market’, investigating how it delineates and differentiates subgroups within the unemployed population, how this subgroup is understood in relation to other actors, and how discursive frameworks imbue this category with various meanings. Lastly, the paper discusses the categorization in relation to the current developments in the Swedish welfare system, arguing that the formalization of this category should be understood in relation to parallel political processes, such as proposals for a duty of activity for the unemployed, suggesting how this points to a way forward defined by neoliberal tendencies and welfare conditionality.

Suggested Citation

  • Maja Östling, 2025. "Deemed as ‘Distant’: Categorizing Unemployment in Sweden’s Evolving Welfare Landscape," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:129-:d:1596750
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paula Blomqvist & Joakim Palme, 2020. "Universalism in Welfare Policy: The Swedish Case beyond 1990," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 114-123.
    2. Paula Blomqvist & Joakim Palme, 2020. "Universalism in Welfare Policy: The Swedish Case beyond 1990," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 114-123.
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