Is the Swedish transition regime still universalistic? A study on growing socio-geographical differences in youth establishment patterns

Abstract

In welfare-policy studies, conditions are often depicted at a national level. This is the case not least in studies of young people’s paths and detours to working life. Studies at a high aggregation level have their advantages when it comes to distinguishing differences in living conditions between countries at similar economic development levels and examining the degree to which these differences can be related to institutional inequalities, differences in so-called welfare-policy regimes. But there is also a risk that studies of national regimes obscure the differences in socio-geographical conditions that exist in all countries. In this article we show how the socio-geographical conditions, to a great degree, affect young people’s ability to find work on the Swedish labor market with good development and support possibilities. A starting point is that the image of the Swedish transition regime as universalistic, as is often depicted in comparative research on young people’s transitions, obscures significant differences in young people’s transition and establishment patterns that are related to geographical residence. The Swedish universalistic regime encompasses a large and, over time, growing socio-geographically related spread of establishment opportunities for youths and young adults. We illustrate the circumstances by presenting comparable data in the form of an establishment index on the conditions for youths and young adults in Sweden’s 290 municipalities.