Varför vill ingen jobba med försörjningsstöd? : En studie om socionomstudenters intresse för arbetet

Sammanfattning: This study examined the interest in working with social assistance among 211 Swedish BSW (Bachelor of Social Work) students. It also focused the relationship between the students’ interest and i) their prior work experience in the field, ii) their attitudes towards the Swedish social assistance system and iii) their attitudes towards the work situation within the field of social assistance. This was examined through a survey distributed to students. The results suggested that the students had limited interest in working with social assistance. Students with personal experience of working with social assistance were slightly more interested than those lacking such experience, but the differences were small. The students’ limited interest in working with social assistance correlated with their negativity towards the work situation within the field. This suggested that primary challenges for today’s employers, who are struggling to attract social workers to the field of social assistance, are to respond to these presumptions and find ways to attract students to the field. Another challenge is to ensure that students willing to work with social assistance remain interested even after gaining experience. Lastly, the students were generally positive towards the social assistance system, but had limited interest in working with social assistance themselves. A possible interpretation of this result was that today’s BSW students do not necessarily see their own future within the traditional welfare state professions, despite being positive towards the services performed within the welfare state (e.g. the administration of social assistance).