Privatizing the central core of social work. Exploring the use of agency social workers in the Swedish social services

Figures & data

Table 1. Comparison between selected municipalities (n = 102) and all Swedish municipalities (n = 290).

Municipality type	Proportion of all municipalities (n = 290)	Proportion of selected municipalities (n = 102)
Larger city and municipalities close to larger city	37	41
Metropolitan cities and areas	16	20
Smaller municipalities and rural municipalities	42	39

Table 2. Use of agency workers 2017–2018.

	Percent
Proportion of municipalities reporting use of agency social workers (n = 102)
2017	64
2018	63
2017 and/or 2018	74
Number of hired agency social workers 2017 and 2018 (n = 74)
1–5	55
6-10	26
10-	19
Use in different units 2017 and/or 2018 (in municipalities that reported use, n = 75)
Child Welfare	95
Social assistance	27
Substance abuse	25
Other	15
Tasks of the agency social workers 2017 and/or 2018 (in municipalities that reported use, n = 75)
Performing investigations/assessments	100
Treatment/provision of care	0
Management positions	12
Most important reasons for hiring 2017 and/or 2018 (in municipalities that reported use, n = 75)
To fill vacancies	52
Recruitment difficulties	44
High workloads	41
Other reasons	13
Procurement procedure 2017 and/or 2018 (in municipalities that reported use, n = 74)
Framework agreement	65
Direct award of contract	35

Table 3. Associations between municipal-level socio-demographic characteristics and having hired more than ten agency social workers 2017–2018. N = 74.

	Multiple regression OR (95% CI)
Percent of inhabitants born in other countries	1.19 (1.08–1.32)**
Percent of inhabitants that received social assistance	1.49 (0.47–1.61)
Percent of inhabitants with low income	0.82 (0.59–1.42)
Percent of inhabitants with low education	0.91 (0.71–1.16)
Percent of unemployed inhabitants	0.87 (0.47–1.61)
Number of inhabitants	1.00 (1.00–1.00)

CI = confidence interval. OR = odds ratio, * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01. Bold numbers indicate statistical significance.