The geographic ´periphery´ as trap or future. Long-term labour market establishment and the interplay between gender, class and place

Summary The project studies the long-term labour market establishment of women and men who grew up in the sparsely populated areas of Sweden (136 councils).

The aim is to identify vulnerable/sustainable patterns and form new knowledge of (gender) inequality and opportunities in the geographic ´periphery´. Subproject 1 utilizes longitudinal register data from LISA 1997-2020.

The main question concerns how individual and contextual factors predict long-term (in)security in labour market attachment and how the impact of mobility varies with gender and class.

We follow three cohorts between ages 20 and 35, identify patterns in labour market attachment paralell to family formation and mobility, and study the importance of individual resources and place characterics.

Further, we study the dynamics of labour market attachment for high- and low-educated women and men over a ten-year period after highest completed education. Methods are sequence analysis, cluster analysis and multi-level regressions.

Subproject 2 focusses on the situation after establishment with a survey distributed (2022) to 5 600 individuals aged 30-50, who grew up in the 136 councils.

Thus, we include ´stayers´ and ´movers´ (incl returning inmovers) to study the interplay between gender, class and place.

Main questions are (1) whether/for whom labour market establishment (in the geografic ´periphery´) implies a lock-in situation with uncertain jobs and little possiblity for adaption, (2) whether such patterns correlate negatively with wellbeing, life satisfaction and social trust and (3) if they are moderated by individuals´ preferences.

Methods are latent class analysis, factor analysis and multi-level regressions. The project combines sociological research on labour market, gender and family with  insights from geography.

It makes an unique contribution by studying establishment over longer time, with data of actual events and subjective assessments and with a view to intersecting inequalities.