ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author examines (un)employment patterns in Sweden on the basis of the results from a number of different research projects carried out by him and Karen Davies, a colleague at Lund university between 1982 and 1994. Swedish research centred on the consequences of plant closures, youth unemployment and the psychological and physical consequences of unemployment. The chapter suggests that there is agreement among social scientists that patterns of employment/unemployment are changing and that much attention has been given to more flexible forms of employment. It presents some statistics about the changing relation between different forms of employment and unemployment at a national level. The chapter shows that such pattern of movement through a brief presentation of the work history of one of the women made redundant from the food-processing factory, Nevia. Nevia’s experience pivots upon the ways in which gender, class and ethnicity combined to influence her past choices in terms of education, training and jobs.
