När inkludering möter struktur: En kvalitativ fallstudie av formella och informella hinder i ett ESF-finansierat arbetsmarknadsprojekt.

This study examines how formal and informal barriers are manifested within an ESF-funded labour market project in Sweden and how these barriers affect participants’ opportunities for labour market establishment. Despite strong policy ambitions to promote inclusion and gender equality, previous research indicates that labour market interventions may reproduce unequal outcomes in practice. Therefore the study focuses on how such barriers are produced and maintained within project-based labour market initiatives, with particular attention to the position of foreign-born women. The study adopts a qualitative research approach and is designed as an instrumental case study of a completed ESF-funded labour market project. The empirical material consists of semistructured interviews with project staff involved in the project’s implementation and a document analysis of the project application and final report. The material was analysed using thematic analysis guided by an abductive analytical approach. The findings show that formally neutral requirements such as educational credentials, documented work experience and language proficiency, function as structural mechanisms that limit participants’ opportunities for labour market establishment. In addition informal barriers related to norms, expectations and everyday organisational practices influence assessments of competence and employability. The analysis demonstrates that formal and informal barriers interact and are reinforced within the project structure, contributing to unequal opportunities for labour market establishment. From an intersectional perspective the results indicate that foreign-born women are particularly affected by this interplay. The study concludes that labour market projects with inclusive ambitions risk reproducing existing inequalities if both structural conditions and informal practices remain unexamined. Addressing the dimensions is essential for promoting more equitable outcomes in future labour market interventions.