engleski

Views from within: Bosnian refugees’ experiences related to their employment in Sweden

While the structure of the Swedish labour market with its regional differences remains the crucial context, this chapter (based on 35 interviews conducted in summer 2009) is devoted to employment-related human capital and psycho-social predispositions of the 1990s' refugees from Bosnia-Herzgovina in Sweden. Initial disorientation and different directions concerning employment are presented, concerning both the resettled refugees and people who came as asylum seekers. Three divergent resettled refugees’ stories are then highlighted, and a number of topics discussed, which Bosnian refugees themselves found important in relation to their employment in Sweden. They include questions of place, ethnic contacts, matters of recognition, critique of Public Employment Service, socio-economic success, loss of status, discrimination, and hope. In conclusion, the relative importance of admission categories of refugees as a basis of analysis is reflected upon.

resettled refugees, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sweden, employment

Open access: http://hdl.handle.net/2043/9208