What is happening to the employees at the Swedish public employment service? : An interview study about the professionalism of the employees at the Swedish public employment service in a quasi-marketization

The Swedish public employment service is an agency controlled by the government which under a long time has been criticized. Therefore the government decided to implement market solutions with the aim to reach a better agency for unemployed and employers. Furthermore, this has included a change for the employees at the agency when some of the tasks will be handled by independent companies as well as other organizations. The phenomenon where independent companies and other organization will be included is called a quasi-marketization. With this background I do wonder what will happen to the employees profession at the agency when a big part of the tasks will be handled by independent companies and other organizations. How will the quasi-marketization manifest itself in the profession? To examine this 7 interviews with employees at the Swedish public employment service have been accomplished. To be able to investigate the above question, Freidson and his theory about professionalism as a thrid logic have been used. The study then shows that the profession has been through a big change which includes more legal repsonsibility, less work with unemployed people, some competencies and skills that are not necessary, limited autonomy and less sense of participation. Moreover what does this entail for the professionalism of the employees? The study shows that a profession which does not match the expectations has been formed. The employees mainly want to work with interpersonal contact, which is increasingly abolished