Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/78642 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2005:20
Publisher: 
Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU), Uppsala
Abstract: 
In the 1990s, many municipalities developed local activation programs for social assistance recipients as a response to increasing social assistance expenditures. This study investigates the practical implementation of municipal activation policies in two different activation programs, Jobbcentrum in Skärholmen and Källan in Osby. The purpose with the study is to highlight how the front-line workers systematically translate activation policy into practice in their interactions with the clients. The study utilizes a street-level bureaucracy perspective, which illuminates the role of bureaucratic and professional discretion and how institutional factors shape the practical responses of front-line staff. Coping behaviors at the ground influences the practical work with activation requirements. The staff develop such coping strategies to manage working conditions marked by ambiguous legislation, organizational pressures, limited resources, and little responsibility for program accountability. Findings from this study suggest that the implementation practices in Skärholmen and Osby frequently diverge from formal intentions of activation policy and the programs’ own goals and descriptions of their work.
Subjects: 
Municipal activation policy
social assistance
street-level bureaucracy theory
front-line workers
implementation
Jobbcentrum
Källan
JEL: 
J60
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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