How are adults who have a problematic use of alcohol and/or other substances integrated into the labour market?
This question is the focal point of the Nordic project on integration into the labour market of adults with dependence or abuse. Our report discusses the findings of this project carried out in 2022–2023.
Adults with substance use problems can sometimes be far removed from the labour market. They often need individual support to help them overcome their addiction, strengthen their potential, and find their place in society and on the labour market.
This report provides insight into the labour market integration across the Nordic countries of adults whose problematic use of alcohol and/or other substances is a barrier to employment. Most of all, we share knowledge and Nordic experiences of successful methods and interventions among this particular target group.
The report contributes to the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030 for a socially sustainable Nordic Region and can be linked to the goal of contributing to good, equal, and safe health and welfare for all. Good health and welfare are fundamental prerequisites for people’s ability to fulfil their potential and contribute to the development of society. This is especially true for vulnerable groups.
The work on the report is a close collaboration between Nadja Frederiksen, project manager at the Nordic Welfare Centre, and researchers Talieh Sadeghi and Øyunn Syrstad Høydal from Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), Norway, who authored the Norwegian section of the report and are also the main authors of the overall report.
Other country profiles were written by the following researchers and experts:
Denmark: Bagga Bjerge (director, professor) & Jonas Strandholdt Bach (assistant professor), Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University.
Finland: Maarit Suomela (rehabilitation director) & Eeva Salmi (director), Silta-Valmennusyhdistys.
Greenland: Birgit V. Niclasen (manager, chief medical consultant), Allorfik, Videncenter om afhængighed.
Iceland: Dóra Guðlaug Árnadóttir (project manager), Elín Guðjónsdóttir (specialist), Guðlaug Jóna Hilmarsdóttir (team leader) & Þóra Kemp (team leader), Virknihús.
Sweden: Tove Sohlberg (researcher), Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University.
The following reference group has provided feedback on the content and structure of the report: Liese Recke (VID Vitenskapelige Høgskole), Øystein Skjælaaen (VID Vitenskapelige Høgskole), Ragnhild Fugletveit (OsloMet), Dagny Adriaenssen Johannessen (OsloMet) & Mette Irmgard Snertingdal (Kriminalomsorgens høgskole og utdanningssenter KRUS).
Many thanks from the Nordic Welfare Centre to everyone involved in the making of the report.
The project, commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Social Affairs, has received funding from the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Health and Social Affairs under the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Eva Franzén Nadja Frederiksen
Director Senior Adviser