Job loss and underemployment: a qualitative study from the Swedish hotel sector

Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion about job loss, underemployment and labour market transition by exploring displaced workers’ experiences and navigation following job loss. With a focus on their movement in the liminal space between employment, underemployment and unemployment, the article explores the factors that influence the strategies displaced workers employ during transition. The study is based on 28 interviews with hotel workers (including five follow-up interviews) in Sweden who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show how participants navigated a changed and constrained labour market where individual strategies were influenced by the ability to utilise skills, combined with family and life situations. Temporary employment solutions were often used to avoid unemployment; however, this did not effectively prevent hourly and skill-based underemployment. In addition, the findings reveal that the participants’ life and family situations acted as both barriers and facilitators in job search, which affected how participants prioritised and navigated their job transition.