This paper is an assessment of whether the Nordic countries constitute an optimum currency area (OCA) or not. Hodrick Prescott-­?filtered data of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and rate of employment are used to investigate the similarity of business cycles between the target countries through a series of correlation analysis with Sweden as the base reference country and also by using a linear regression model. Additionally there is an evaluation of trade volume and labour mobility between the countries. Our results indicate that Iceland had the least similar business cycles within the Nordic countries and that the area should therefore possibly comprise Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. .

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur användning av LAS företrädesrätt och bemanningsföretag har påverkat IF Metall och arbetsgivare inom tillverkningsindustrin. Metod: Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuer samt använt sekundärdata så som böcker, tidningsartiklar, forskningsrapporter och internetkällor. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Vi har använt oss av Atkinsons teori, kapitalbindning, nyttomaximeringsteori, transaktionskostnadsteori samt psykologiskt och transaktionellt kontrakt. Empiri: I empirin redovisas arbetsdomstolens domar om kringgående av LAS. Därefter följer redovisning av intervjuer som genomförts med IF Metall, Svenskt Näringsliv, Bemanningsföretagen och tre företag inom tillverkningsindustrin. Slutsats: Vår undersökning visar att IF Metall och arbetsgivare enbart kan komma överens om ett kollektivavtal upprättas. Den nya förstärkta företrädesrätten tycks ha skapat än mer osämja arbetsgivare och IF Metall:s fackförbund emellan..

My purpose is to describe and analyse how care managers experience their position as middle managers in the public sector. I have used a qualitative interview method to answer this question and also to capture my six interview persons opinion and understanding of their own position as middle managers. From my six interviews I noticed some difference in their opinions about how it is being a care manger. The results show that the role as care managers have challenges such as to intertwine their own notion how the caring of the elder should be with strict politic decisions. Other challenges are the limitation of economic recourses and reorganisations.

We would like to learn more about how the restrictive policy against incentive programmes affects the board’s of Swedish state owned commercial firms ability to govern management in an efficient way. We also want to find out if there are different consequences in reference to this that are not directly linked to corporate governance issues. Our empiric observations have been made in order to profoundly explore the subject and examine it through the eyes of professional individuals, all expressing different views and standpoints. We conclude that the most efficient structure is when an active board is complemented by a well structured and individualised incentive programme. However, this thesis conclude that this structure is not possible given the current guidelines and policies employed by the state, which in turn might lead to sub optimizations in the governing..

 The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitude to and experience of information and communication technology (ICT) in teachers teaching and what motivates them. The study is qualitative and its research material is based on interviews. There are eight interviews and they where carried out at one school with a stated IT profile and at another school without a stated IT profile. The two schools are located in different municipalities, but both are secondary schools. The result shows that there are differences in attitude between the two schools. The school with a stated IT profile seems to have a more open mind of using ICT when teaching, but both schools sees the lack of availability as one of the main hindrance for using it. None of the participating teachers saw themselves as controlled to use ICT in their teaching.

This study is an investigation of a sub community within the community of Hovsjö. The local government has financed a project in Hovsjö which is intended to bring about positive development. The prior object of this paper is to describe the project, it?s planning, it?s methods, it?s carrying through, and it?s goals. This study presents the district of Hovsjö in Södertälje.

The main objective of this thesis is to study the brand manager?s role within a global business to business (B2B) company. In order to meet the main objective we have chosen to study and analyse one global B2B company, Alfa Laval AB, Alfa Laval DK, Alfa Laval PL and its co-partners such as an advertising agency. We have also studied three global business to customer (B2C) companies, Mars, Unilever and Nestlé, to get a picture of brand managers? role and responsibilities within the B2C environment which is already quite far ahead in the development of the brand management thinking..

In this paper I study how the repeal of the Swedish wealth tax (1 of January 2007) has affected people´s labour supply behaviour. This particular issue is relevant because it may help us understand some of the effects of the earnings tax changes that have taken place in Sweden. Accoring to standard economic theory a repealed wealth tax is similar to an income effect for the persons who previously paid the tax. That means that they theoretically will want to consume more leisure, that is decrease their labour supply. The method I am using to test this hypothesis is a difference-in-difference approach where the treatment group consists of persons who previously paid the tax and the control group of comparable persons who did not pay the tax.

Several reports and scientific research have shown that unemployment affectshealth negatively and that it is the young unemployed who suffer the most. Despitethis, there were not many evaluated labour market programs for young peoplefocusing both on how the labour market programs affect the job status and health,most of them were only focused on job status. Since there were not manycompilations in that direction, the essay is intended to describe the variousprograms and their impact on both job status and health. A literature-based studyhas been conducted and 15 articles have been reviewed and compiled into variouscategories using a content analysis. It turned out that the majority of the mostcommon labour market programs were represented in the scientific literature.There was also a new genre that is not mentioned in previous reports, cognitivebehavioral therapy (CBT), which proved to be one of the most successful programs.Michigan Prevention Research Center (MPRC) job search programs also showedsome positive results.

The purpose of our thesis is to understand the opportunities and obstacles that administrators in the municipalities and work intermediaries in Halland experience in their work with the introduction of newly arrived refugees in the labor market. In this study we have done 8 qualitative interviews with employees in the municipality and the employment in work intermediation in Halland to illuminate the underlying factors of why the report "A lost year" of the Swedish Integration Board shows that few newly arrived refugees get a job in the first year after they have been received a residence permit.The study showed that newly arrived refugees have it more difficult to be introduced in the labor market in Sweden. The underlying causes of the situation are many, according to those interviewed. Knowledge in the Swedish language is most important for the introduction of the newly arrived refugees'. Other factors that affect the newly arrived refugees? opportunity to be introduced in the labor market are the discrimination that exists in society.

This essay deals with the relationship between the influx to higher education and the situation on the labor market in Sweden. It also examines whether overeducation as a phenomenon is present among Swedish academics and if there is any obvious discrimination between the sexes. The Swedish government has an outspoken goal that at least 50% of every age group shall undergo an academic education. Therefore, they have expanded the possibilities ofobtaining one. We have used three economic theories to investigate the subject of this thesis and applied these on the statistics of 4 different educations.

Tidigare forskning pekar pa? att medarbetare bland annat motiveras av balans mellan insats och belo?ning, fo?rva?ntningar som a?r fo?renliga med organisationens visioner och instrumentell motivation. A?sikterna i forskningen skiljer sig a?t i hur ansta?llningsform pa?verkar graden av arbetstillfredssta?llelse. Syftet med studien var att, genom en kvantitativ metod, underso?ka graden av arbetsmotivation hos lagermedarbetare.

The aim of the study was to describe how hygienist`s receiving their certificate during 2003 and 2004, perceive their working situation, salary and impression of their first employment as a registered dental hygienist. A questionnaire was sent out to new dental hygienist`s examined year 2003 and 2004 in Sweden. Most of the new examined dental hygienist`s found the education adequate or more than adequate. A few individuals found it inadequate. The ones finding the education inadequate wanted more clinical practice and more training in administrative work.

The aim of this thesis is to study a job-searching process and elements that affects it. The elements I have focused on are gender, class and social network. The study is based on interviews and a survey study with students from the educational program of Social work (Socialomsorgsutbildningen), that graduated 3 years ago. Through the survey I have examined their social-background and their job-searching process. The interviews are the main focus in the study.

This essay examines how a group of five youths? self identities are affected by unemploy-ment, contact with the social services and by labour market interventions. In Sweden youth employment has been regarded as a social problem. Arbetslinjen that could be translated into the work model or the work line influences and is a necessity for the Swedish welfare system. With a hermeneutic scientific philosophical position the method used to examine this has been to interview the youths, in the age of 18-25, individually.