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ABSTRACT
This article explores and analyses, with the help of both client and social worker data on 423 applications for social assistance in Sweden, (i) the extent to which social assistance benefits and labour market strengthening measures are granted and (ii) factors concerning clients as well as social workers that are associated with the granting of benefits. Considering (i), the results show that social assistance is granted in about 74% of cases while only 6% of applicants are granted additional labour market strengthening measures. With regard to (ii), the results indicate that the granting of benefits seems to depend on a broad spectrum of factors at both the client and the social worker levels. For example, more experienced social workers are less willing to grant social assistance while chances increase when an applicant is already registered at the local public employment service and/or social insurance office. Moreover, the granting of benefits also co-varies with more or less invariable factors at the client level: social workers are in general more generous towards women and people born outside Sweden, but rather less generous vis-à-vis single parents. The findings are discussed in terms of workfare and professionalization among social workers.
ABSTRAKT
Med stöd i detaljerade individuppgifter om totalt 423 ansökningar om ekonomiskt bistånd i 25 svenska kommuner, beskrivs och analyseras (a) i vilken utsträckning bistånd såväl som arbetsmarknadsstimulerande åtgärder beviljas samt (b) vilka faktorer på klient- liksom socialarbetarnivå som samvarierar med beviljande av ekonomiskt bistånd. Av resultaten framgår att omkring tre fjärdedelar av klienterna beviljas ekonomiskt bistånd, samtidigt som endast sex procent av de sökande erhåller någon form av arbetsmarknadsstimulerande insats. Huruvida ekonomiskt bistånd beviljas eller ej samvarierar med en rad olika förhållanden på både socialarbetar- och klientnivån: bifallsbenägenheten tenderar exempelvis att vara högre i relation till kvinnliga sökanden och personer födda utanför Sverige. Detsamma gäller i fall där klienten har en redan etablerad kontakt med Arbetsförmedlingen och/eller Försäkringskassan. På motsatt sätt pekar resultaten på att mer erfarna socialarbetare är mindre bifallsbenägna än andra, liksom att ensamt föräldraskap samvarierar med lägre chanser att få sin ansökan beviljad. Resultaten diskuteras med stöd i resonemang om aktivering av mottagare av ekonomiskt bistånd, samt med utgångspunkt i tankegods om professionalisering bland socialarbetare.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Hugo Stranz is associate professor of social work at the Department of Social Work at Stockholm University. His research primarily covers various perspectives on practical work in the Swedish personal social services. His main focus is directed towards social assistance recipiency and the administration of social assistance benefits. This includes, for example, different aspects on decision-making on social assistance eligibility and social assistance recipiency among single mothers.
Patrik Karlsson is associate professor of social work at the Department of Social Work at Stockholm University. His primary research interests are in the areas of substance use and evidence-based practice. His research has, for example, concerned the relation between risk perceptions and substance and he has also done studies on how evidence for psychosocial interventions is produced by different actors.
Stefan Wiklund is associate professor of social work at the Department of Social Work at Stockholm University. His research primarily covers personal social services with a particular focus on child welfare. He has studied, for example, child welfare intake, privatization and audit of residential care, welfare aspects of looked after children and social assistance recipiency among single mothers.
Notes
1. For quantitative examples in a Nordic context, focusing on the effects of non-monetary interventions (social measures and activation related interventions) vis-à-vis social assistance recipients, see, for example, Malmberg-Heimonen (Citation2011, Citation2015).
2. The internal response rate with regard to educational level among social workers amounts to 96% (n = 133). Nearly all the respondents (96%) hold a Degree of Bachelor of Science in social work or some sort of corresponding education (e.g. Degree of Bachelor of Science in social work and social pedagogy).
3. In a previous study based on the same set of data (Stranz, Wiklund, & Karlsson, Citation2016), we are using a broader definition of 'activation programme'. Consequently, the estimates regarding the prevalence of activation programmes differ somewhat between the papers.
4. For further information on covariance between social assistance recipiency and, for example, duration of stay as well as country of origin, see, for example, Gustafsson (Citation2013).