“Jag är osynlig, jag vet inte vem jag är längre” : En kvalitativ studie om ungdomars upplevelser av arbetslöshetens påverkan på individen. 

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the study has been to examine young people's experiences of the impact of unemployment on the individual. To answer the purpose of the study, two questions have been designed: How do young people feel that unemployment has affected them? How do young people experience that their surroundings' perceptions of unemployment affect their self-esteem? Based on a qualitative method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six unemployed young people aged 19-24 who are enrolled in Stöd och matchning, which is a labor market measure within the Swedish Public Employment Service. The interviews were conducted between writer and informant remotely via Skype due to the current pandemic. The methodological approach used is phenomenography. The phenomenographic approach is used in the study because the focus of the study has been to examine young people's experiences. The material was then analyzed based on the study's theoretical starting points: Symbolic interactionism and Goffman's concept of stigma. The results have shown that unemployment affects social life, among other things in terms of feeling a community. The study showed that the unemployed feel distancing themselves from social contexts, exclusion from society, change in everyday life and limitations of social relationships. The results show that unemployment has a negative impact on young people. The consequences of unemployment show poorer self-esteem, exclusion, distancing, feelings of shame, stigma, lack of routines and a non-social community. The results have also shown that the majority of young people's self-esteem is affected by the idea of the environment, because unemployment is negatively conditioned in society.