In recent decades, the Swedish labour market has undergone extensive structural changes as a result of technological developments that have driven digitization and globalization processes. In parallel, there have been major changes in the ownership structure of Swedish companies: foreign ownership has increased, state and municipal companies have been privatized, venture capital ownership has become a common form of ownership, and entrepreneurship has become a significant feature of the modern economy. Digitalization, ownership changes and globalization have all had major consequences for the way the labour market works today.

The aim of this project is to analyze how these structural changes have affected different types of employees, entrepreneurs and firms in Sweden over the past decades. Specific questions we seek answers to include how digitalization, ownership changes and globalization have affected wages, wage dispersion, work environment and the risk of employees losing their jobs; how the allocation of talent in the Swedish business sector has been affected; and what determines decisions to start new businesses and what characterizes successful careers in the Swedish labor market. These questions will be addressed through empirical analyses using extensive register-based information on the Swedish labor force linked to firm and owner data for the period 1990-2015.