Insight and Analysis

Insight and Analysis 2020

The North Sea Diver – working under pressure

There are few stories describing working life in Norway’s offshore oil industry, despite the massive impact the sector has had on the country’s economy. Now a new book details one of most remarkable new occupations that emerged from the industry – the deep sea divers. The author is Swedish Hans Claesson.

Future unemployment development still hard to predict

Countries tackling the Corona crisis have been trying to bridge a few months while society closes down, allowing as many companies as possible to survive with employees and knowledge intact. This has been the case especially in the Nordics. Politicians have shown willing to spend money in unprecedented ways.

Insight and Analysis 2016

When the welfare state falls short: Is social entrepreneurship the solution?

Social entrepreneurship and social innovation could help develop the Nordic welfare models, says Norway’s Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion Anniken Hauglie. These are issues she would like to promote when Norway takes on the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2017.

ILO: The future labour market in dire straits, time for action

There is trouble ahead for the future labour market: global growth is falling, jobs are disappearing, employment contracts are changing, inequality is on the rise and the middle classes are no longer growing. But not everything points in a negative direction, and according to Finland’s Minister of Justice and Employment we can influence developments.

Why did Iceland do so well?

From the crisis hit in 2008 until 2011 Iceland experienced the greatest income redistribution in Europe. It is common to think that cuts are needed to deal with economic crises. Iceland is an example of the opposite. Welfare works better than cuts, claim the researchers behind the report Welfare consequences of financial crises.

Jyrki Katainen: Populism threatens stability and risks increasing unemployment

The EU Commission’s Vice-President, responsible for jobs, growth, investments and competitiveness, is attacking populism, praises the circular economy and defends the EU Pillar of Social Rights in an interview with the Nordic Labour Journal.

Insight and Analysis 2015

New Danish government: A new and challenging course for Danish labour market politics

Denmark’s new centre-right government faces the hard task of reforming the country’s unemployment benefit model.

Anda Uldum: The man with the key to the national coffers and the mines

Greenland’s new Minister of Finance and Raw Materials, Anda Uldum, is facing a giant challenge.

Marginalised youths on the labour ministers’ agenda

“No youths should be left to their own devices for longer periods of time,” Danish Noemi Katznelson told Nordic labour ministers when she presented her latest research in Copenhagen recently. Marginalised youths and work were the themes for discussion between the ministers and the social partners, with a focus on preventative measures against unemployment.

Youth unemployment at the Economic Forum: how to solve it?

What is needed to make sure young people can find a proper job, allowing them to make a decent living? Youth unemployment hits the Nordic countries and other European countries in different ways, but it remains a major challenge for all of them. Is the youth guarantee the solution? What is the answer?

Insight and Analysis 2014

Women could determine the Nordic model’s future

A high employment rate for women is crucial to the future of the Nordic model. This was the main message from the OECD’s Mark Pearson as the report ‘The Nordic Model – challenged but capable of reform’, was being discussed at the meeting of Nordic labour ministers.

Greenland — worth the journey

The fisheries producing the Greenland prawns and halibut still represent Greenland’s most important industry, and the grant from Denmark is still the country’s largest source of money. The dream is for mining and perhaps oil to make up a larger part of the revenue.

Social scientists must guide us out of the crisis

"There is a fire of resentment burning across Europe, and there’s an urgent need to calm tensions. Social scientists need to get involved. Dogmatic economists have been allowed to dominate the debate for too long," says Maurizio Ferrera, Professor at the University of Milan.

Finnish cases in EU Court of Justice could have Nordic consequences

Is the Finnish system of universally applicable collective agreements incompatible with the free movement of services? That is what an advocate-general at the Court of Justice of the European Union suggests in a fresh opinion. The case is only one out of three current ones which could have a major impact on the Nordic countries’ labour markets.

The Faroe Islands’ future must be more than fish

What will the Faroese live off when there is no more fish? Is the answer oil or tourism? The important thing is to create jobs for women in the archipelago which is more patriarchal than other parts of the Nordic region.

Feminists, but also masculinists

The Nordic region has cooperated on gender equality for 40 years. It has been of great importance for equality’s progress and has improved the lives of Nordic citizens, said Eygló Harðardóttir, Iceland’s Minister of Equality during the anniversary celebrations in Iceland on 26 August. Where is the debate today? Is there a need for a new equality narrative?

Insight and Analysis 2013

Climate changes arctic working life

The climate is changing much faster in the Arctic than researchers had predicted. This also means great challenges for working life in an area where between four and nine million people live, depending on how you define it. The Arctic Frontiers conference has been staged in Tromsø for the eighth time.

ILO: Europe’s youth must get jobs and regain their confidence

The ILO will help put the youth guarantee into practice and make sure €6bn granted by the EU will be used to get Europe’s youth into work. The ILO will play a stronger role in helping crisis-hit European countries to improve the economic, social and political consequences of the crisis and to reestablish trust in the countries.

Munch in the canteen – for Freia’s workers only the best was good enough

Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream created art history when it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2012 for €91,033,826. The Scream is also part of the Anniversary Exhibition Munch 150, because Munch didn’t paint just one, but often several pictures of the same motif. The anniversary also features the Freia Frieze, which Munch painted for the workers’ canteen at the Freia chocolate factory in Oslo.

One in five construction workers in Sweden are posted

Over 18,000 workers were this spring posted by companies from other countries to work in Sweden, most of them in the construction industry. The number of posted workers in that industry was nearly as high as one fifth of all the working members of the Byggnads union – Sweden’s main union for construction workers. These are figures from the first comprehensive attempt at mapping the posted workers in Sweden.

Occupational rehabilitation – organised anarchy?

Everyone struggles to increase the labour participation rate among people with reduced work ability. Could the actual support system be the greatest obstacle?

Insight and Analysis 2012

The Nordic model marries growth and equality

For five years now the Nordic model has been the subject of a study which aims to establish whether the model can manage to modernise. A conference in Oslo at the end of August marked the end of REASSESS, where 80 reports and five books were presented over two intensive days.

Nordic seniors want longer working lives

Nordic women and men work for longer than their European colleagues, and the retirement age is increasing. But there are also differences between the Nordic countries. In later years Denmark has considered Sweden and Norway to be good examples when it comes to employment among the older generation. So why the differences, and why do more people want to work for longer?

Work environment gives Nordic growth sectors competitive edge

How can the Nordic region face the challenges of growing globalisation? Where is the potential for growth and rising employment? Nordic researchers recommend measures which could help authorities and businesses make better use of growth opportunities.

Insight and Analysis 2011

Riots highlight Manchester’s unemployed underclass

What made hundreds of youths run amok in Manchester and other UK cities in August? Debate has been fierce in the weeks following riots that cost five lives and millions of pounds in damages. The political right blames a moral collapse, the left blames budget cuts and social deprivation. In Manchester the riots have led to a renewed focus on the large and growing gap between the rich and poor.

Nokia's scraps mobile ecosystem in fight to survive

Nokia is shedding thousands of staff world-wide - the equivalent of one in ten workers within its mobile telephone business. The move is part of Nokia's attempt to remain in profit and improve the growth outlook within a completely new technological ecosystem.

Work is top priority in integration of Sweden's new arrivals

As soon as newly arrived refugees are granted permission to stay in Sweden the process of getting them established in society begins. The goal is to cut the time it takes to get settled into the labour market. Those who want to can use personal guides who'll help them with work and integration.

Insight and Analysis 2010

Laval case brings new Swedish law

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing the Swedish Parliament passed legislation on 24 March to reflect the Court of Justice of the European Union's judgement in the much-debated Laval case.

Editorial: The need to limit working life without boundaries

Mixing work and free time can have unwanted consequences. Nordic Labour Journal puts the spotlight on our portable working hours. How will we deal with the grey zone between work and free time?

Iceland's new slimmed-down and EU-critical government

Iceland's government has been cut from twelve to ten ministers. Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir says the ministerial posts will be cut further in the new year with the merging of several departments.

Insight and Analysis 2009

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Insight and Analysis 2008

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Insight and Analysis 2006

New life for “industrial graveyards“ - lots of jobs in culture and arts

All around Europe a fast growing labour market in culture and arts gives new vigour to cities and towns. In de-industrialised places this is particularly evident. Instead of moving out, people have started to move in - to jobs in the “creative sector“ - counting for an average of one third of all jobs.

Insight and Analysis

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