“Self-confidence, family and network support all play a major part
when young people want to make their professional dreams come true. We
see an increasingly fragmented working market,” says Gunnar Gillberg,
doctoral student at the Department of Work Science in Gothenburg.
In mid May 2009, working life researchers from all over Sweden
presented their findings at the Gothenburg conference “Work in people’s
lives”. Gunnar Gillberg was one of them. He looks at what jobs young
adults aspire to. He explores 20 to 29 year-olds’ perceptions of work,
as well as the structural conditions influencing their choices. Gunnar
Gillberg bases his research on interviews with 22 young adults. Ten of
them are training with Kaospiloterna, a entrepreneur and project
management education which is very much geared towards future labour
markets. The others work at Volvo, in the traditional manufacturing
industry.
The new generation looms
Young adults will soon dominate the labour market. 40 percent of
Swedes who were in employment in 2003 will have retired by 2015. It is
therefore safe to assume the way young adults view their chances in the
future labour market will be a force that will shape that market.
Gunnar Gillberg’s paper, presented at the Gothenburg conference,
concluded that young adults face a level of individualisation their
parent generation never knew. People are increasingly asked to rely on
their own resources. This means self-confidence and the ability to rely
on support from home become more and more important factors.
“I’m surprised that class is still so important for how people
regard their lives and possibilities. Social conditions do play a major
role, but in a different way than before. Today it is more about what
resources you carry with you from home, while society no longer offers
the safety net it once did,” says Gunnar Gillberg.
Two worlds
The young adults attending Kaospiloterna are facing stiff
competition. Theirs is an elite education. They come from
resourceful homes and have received a lot of support and encouragement.
They are self-assured, have good grades and strongly believe they’ll
fulfil their professional dreams. They will decide their own terms of
employment and work will form a very important part of their lives.
Work simply IS life, and they are tough on themselves in order to
succeed. Some of them have a fear of failure, and feel expectations are
high from parents and friends, as well as from society as a whole.
Society simply expects success, or you are regarded a looser. You can
sum up these young adults’ visions of future working life in three
terms: space to flourish, self-realisation and autonomy.
“These young people embrace the possibilities given to them by
individualisation, and take risks to realise their own goals. At the
same time they are incredibly hard on themselves and risk getting
exhausted,” says Gunnar Gillberg.
Those working for Volvo are happy to share their dreams about work –
at least the interview to them is a welcome break from the routine.
They’ve got homogeneous backgrounds. They are working class and their
parents lack higher education. Most say they started this work while
waiting for something better to come along. They’ve let chance govern,
and many describe their current job as a chance encounter too – even
though some of them say they’re happy with where they are. But several
of the interviewees say they feel a bit stuck in their present
situation. They’ve grown accustomed to steady work and the monthly pay
slip. They view further education as expensive, difficult and time
consuming work, and many also have bad past experiences with school.
There is a fear of taking up further education. They are influenced by
their class, but can no longer call on society’s help to find a
solution to an uncertain situation.
Obvious loneliness
“People lacking in resources or self-esteem used to be able to lean
on the strength of society, the companionship at the work place, or
seek safety in belonging to a certain class. Those structures seem to
play less of a role today, which means children in working class
families will also be aware of modern society’s greater degree of
uncertainty. In an uncertain world, the dream of security becomes the
dream of a house, family and children,” says Gunnar Gillberg.
An increasingly lonely working life is the sign of the times, where
the individual carries great responsibility while the possibility for
protection from society diminishes. Gunnar Gillberg compares these
changes to what happened in the change-over from an agricultural to
industrialised society. That shift brought in the social safety nets we
know today. Many Swedes are still trade union members, but like for the
rest of Europe, the number of young members is falling.
“Trade unions are loosing their role as a power base for the
under-privileged, and they face a huge task in reclaiming the
initiative,” says Gunnar Gillberg.
