Being able to do a ‘real’ job : Institutional narratives within and about Local Labour Market Programs

Local Labour Market Programs (LLMPs) at the municipal level in Sweden is a part of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP). The LLMPs are aimed at enhancing people considered to be distant from the labour market, with particular complex problematics, opportunities to be self-sufficient and assume a place in the labour market. People with functional variations, immigrants and young people have difficulty entering the labour market, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic crisis. In this article we explore how ableist discourses operates in institutional narratives about work, the worker and abilities in relation to participants in LLMPs. The article is based on interview with managers and local politicians in charge of the LLMP units in eight Swedish municipalities. In the interviews we explore the mechanisms of the LLMPs and analyses them in relation to ableist norms. The managers and politicians’ narratives conceptualize skills and measures of productivity intrinsically excluding people who are not seen as being able to undertake productive work in line with the imposed requirement. The study shows that the LLMPs reproduce disability inequality but at times also create spaces of inclusion by questioning the idea of a ‘real job’.
Lokala arbetsmarknadsprogram – Utmaningar av och för en inkluderande arbetsmarknad