OFFPHD-Offentlig sektor-ph.d.

The significance of this study is based on the intense flow of immigration into Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and the necessity to support the integration of newcomers into their host societies, where successful employment plays an important role. As certain groups of immigrants, particularly refugees, struggle with obtaining and keeping employment in the competitive labour market, they are an important target group for labour activation measures in the OECD states in terms of labour activation policies. OECD activation policies involve rather coercive activation measures targeting the transfer of the unemployed into waged jobs. These measures may include, for instance, compulsory participation in vocational interventions, such as work trials, geographical and career mobility demands, or benefit reduction in case the unemployed does not comply with these demands. A person-centred approach, on the other hand, is non-directive and holistic in terms that it allows the intervention participant to direct the service according own needs and preferences and may address all the spheres of life if the participant expresses need for assistance there. At the base of it lies the building of a trust-based ?therapeutic? relationship between the participant and the counsellor, who empowers the participant through the freedom of self-determined choice and by providing support tailored to the participant?s needs and wishes. In Norway, there is a growing interest in the person-centred approach for vocational interventions, which is represented by supported employment. Used as one of the labour activation measures for the unemployed with complex support needs, supported employment shows rather promising results in labour market integration and employment outcomes of its participants. Meanwhile, there is a discernible tension among the principles of a person-centred approach, such as non-directiveness and holistic counselling, creation of a therapeutic relationship between the counsellor and intervention participant, and the use of demanding activation measures. This dissertation aims to investigate a person-centred vocational intervention targeting immigrant jobseekers in Norway. The results of this research indicate that person-centredness that may characterize the supported employment intervention being studied is subsumed by the activation agenda and jeopardises the person-centredness of the intervention. The distinguishing characteristics that are to be considered in person-centred work with immigrants include the influence of pre-migration professional achievements on present vocational experience, the consequences of having a family in a foreign country, and the sociolinguistic struggles of immigrants. As my findings suggest, these characteristics are often not prioritised and not appropriately addressed by the employment specialists who work with the target group and therefore participants have to deal with these challenges by themselves. Addressing these needs, on the on the hand side, would make the interventions more person-centered and potentially improve participant experiences and outcomes of the interventions.

Dette forskningsarbeidet er et bidrag til kunnskap om integrering av innvandrere og fyller et kunnskapsgap mht. arbeidsrettede virkemidler for denne målgruppen. Med arbeidet forklares hvor godt en personsentrert tilnærming innen Supported Employment settes ut i live i en aktiveringskontekst, og det påpekes særtrekk ved dette virkemiddelet man bør ta høyde for når man jobber med innvandrere. Gitt at personsentrert tilnærming blir mer utbredt, er annerkjennelsen av den teoretiske bakgrunnen som underbygger tilnærmingen et viktig steg videre for å utvikle en generell forståelse for tilnærmingen og fremme riktig implementering av personsentrert tilnærming gjennom virkemidler som Supported Employment. Denne studien henvender seg til forskere, yrkesutøvere og beslutningstakere som jobber med aktiveringstiltak, inkludering på arbeidsmarkedet, Supported Employment og personsentrerte tilnærminger med den alminnelige populasjonen så vel som arbeidssøkende innvandrere som målgruppe.

With an increasing immigration, integration and employment of the population with immigrant background became one of the priorities of the Norwegian government. During the last years Supported Employment, based on place-train approach has been getting attention as a vocational measure that shows higher employment rates among job-seekers with complex support needs if compared to other vocational measures. A number of projects in Norway have attempted to use the method of Supported Employment in work with the job-seekers with immigrant background. The recent research has documented that though the results of the Supported Employment method used in follow-up work with the job-seekers with immigrant background are promising, there is a need to tailor the process of Supported Employment to this target group. Supported Employment is rooted in place-train approach and appeared as a method to help people with complex support needs to get employed at an ordinary workplace. It focuses not only on helping job-seekers to get employed but also to keep the job in the long run. Involvement of a job-seeker in the process of follow-up is called client engagement and is singled out as the first step of the Supported Employment process. It has been argued that client engagement helps to tailor the follow-up process to the job-seeker in such a way that it takes into consideration his/her particular world perspective that in its turn helps to achieve better results. This project is motivated by the need for development of competence in applying of the Supported Employment method in follow-up work with the job-seekers with immigrant background. The findings of this research will help to develop the methodological material to tailor Supported Employment to this target group that can be used by job coaches and case workers in Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) and similar agencies.