"For Renewal, Restructuring, and Growth": A History of the New Arbeidslinje, 1985-1995

Abstract

Since 1990, unemployment and labor market policy in Norway has increasingly been structured to encourage participation in the labor market, with policymakers tightening eligibility requirements for health-related programs such as uføretrygd (long-term disability insurance) and requiring that økonomisk sosialhjelp (emergency cash assistance) applicants participate in activation or training programs to receive aid. Much has been written describing and evaluating this new policy approach, referred to as the (new) arbeidslinje, yet the explanatory question—the question of how and why Norway embraced the arbeidslinje—has received little attention. At times using Sweden as a point of reference, but drawing primarily upon policy documents from the Norwegian Finance, Labor, and Health Ministries, this thesis argues that the Brundtland government adopted the arbeidslinje in order to address problems of labor supply as part of its larger program of economic restructuring, which was meant to restore the international competitiveness of the Norwegian economy.