Making the Poor Work

Poverty policy and work demands have been§controversial questions in social policy; during the§workhouse era of the nineteenth century as well as in§current discussions. The concepts of poverty,§marginalisation, and social exclusion are analysed in§the first part of the book.§The later parts describe the present conditions§regarding poverty, social assistance and§welfare-to-work programs in Sweden. Social assistance§developed in the 1980s in the direction of an income§guarantee. During the 1990s, policies changed towards§activation and control when the Swedish welfare state§was burdened by a severe recession. Time-series and§longitudinal datasets are used for analysis of the§relation between unemployment and receipt of social§assistance.§Malmö, a traditionally industrial city, was severely§hit by the recession with increasing marginalisation§and long-term receipt of social assistance.§Activation programs are often proposed as a solution§and had a central role in municipal policy. §According to available evidence from evaluation§research, such programs have quite modest effects on§work and income and the result was similar in the§impact evaluation of the local program.