INDUSTRIAL RESTRUCTURING AND GENDERED LABOR-MARKET PROCESSES

This article discusses some results from a study concerning industrial restructuring and labour market processes in the period 1982-5 in Sweden. More specifically it elaborates on the results depicting the gendered employment patterns that followed as a result of the restructuring processes. The article begins with a presentation of the project, some theoretical points of departure and the main results. One important finding is that the outcome of the restructuring process on the individual level is gender specific. Men and women encounter different obstacles and therefore had different success in regaining a stable position in the labour market after the loss of employment. Some individuals, mostly women, landed in a labour market pattern which we call 'permanent temporariness', and which meant that a long period of time was spent in temporary labour market situations (temporary employment, labour market training, relief work, education, etc.). The article sets out to explore whether this situation, after some time, turns into a permanent labour market situation or whether it can be seen as a method for eventually regaining a stable position in the labour market.