”Man säger inte- Tjena Wallenberg här är jag, va!” : en studie av arbetskonsulenters förståelse av hinder och möjligheter på arbetsmarknaden för personer med utländsk bakgrund

The study is a qualitative survey with the purpose to through interviews with Employment Office social workers examine their perception of possibilities and obstacles in the employment market for immigrants. This purpose is specified through two specific problems; how are cultural and ethnic affiliations portrayed in relation to what is perceived as Swedish in the communication with Employment Office social workers and whether they reckon that the specifications in the employment market are pragmatically or normatively motivated. The materials are presented using a social constructivist perspective and in relation to previously conducted research and our chosen theory. The results are presented and analyzed in themes. The main conclusions drawn from the interviews are that it primarily is the individual prerequisites that are central, but that structural factors also affect the entry into the employment market. The interviewees refer to the specifications as being reasonably formulated, but that there are also implicit norms that determines the outcome of the recruitment process. Moreover, the Employment Office social workers are affected by the Swedish cultural context they work within, and that they experience ambivalence around the fact that employers assume a Swedish norm. This could conceal the competences of the unemployed and thus be excluding