Selling, Niels , Svallfors, Stefan | 2019
Working paper 2019 nr 12.
This paper analyses career paths and career considerations among policy professionals in Sweden. It builds on a longitudinal data set in which the professionals’ careers are mapped and interviews conducted over a six-year period. We found that (a) skills such as the ability to navigate the political system make policy professionals employable in a variety of organizations; (b) considerations regarding different aspects of power were central to their career decisions; and (c) the barriers in their labour market are related to ideological commitments, loyalties, and value hierarchies that make policy professionals reluctant to move anywhere their skills could take them.
