All Articles — Nordic Labour Journal

Editorial: Bad working conditions under pressure

(Apr 16, 2013) What do you do if your colleague works twice as long at half the pay that you get? There are trades and individuals who gravely exploit cheap labour, and in times of crisis many will accept a lot in order to get a job. What is being done in the Nordic region to make sure labour market rules are being followed? The fight against social dumping is this month’s theme in the Nordic Labour Journal.

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

(Apr 16, 2013) 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.

Greenland’s new leader inspired by Mandela

(Apr 16, 2013) Greenland politics is literally on the move after the 12 March elections. Boxes, lever arch files and personal belongings are strewn around corridors of the devolved government in the centre of Nuuk, while newly elected members move into their new offices, and meeting rooms are changing owners.

Editorial: The many reasons for gender equality

(Mar 08, 2013) The Nordic Labour Journal’s gender equality barometer, the third in as many years, shows progress for women’s representation in Nordic power positions by one percentage point in 2012 in relation to a 50/50 gender distribution.

Katrín Jakobsdóttir - party leader during times of change

(Mar 08, 2013) She is young, skilled and popular and has just been elected party leader for Iceland’s Left-Green Movement (VG). She will lead her party into parliamentary elections at the end of April, under what for Iceland are unusual circumstances were the former party leader is one of the party’s strongest candidates in the election.

Editorial: Labour migrants head North

(Feb 08, 2013) Iro came first. She arrived from Greece to study. Then the crisis hit, Iro found a job and stayed. Now her brother Dimitris has joined her to look for work in Norway. Do they represent a wave of job seekers from crisis-hit southern Europe to the Nordic region, we wonder in this month’s theme.

Anniken Huitfeldt: Minister of Labour with an eye for equality

(Feb 04, 2013) ”More people can do some work” says Anniken Huitfeldt when I meet Norway’s new Minister of Labour just as we enter 2013. There are parliamentary elections in September. So where will she make her mark in the next six months; where does she want to make a difference as Minister of Labour in Jens Stoltenberg’s government?

Climate changes arctic working life

(Jan 28, 2013) 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.

Editorial: Cooperation under pressure

(Dec 14, 2012) Whatever happened to the Nordic negotiation model? people asked as news broke that SAS employees were told to accept longer hours for less pay or see the airline go bust.

Workplace cooperation key to Nordic model's success

(Dec 14, 2012) Many wonder how the Nordic countries manage so well through the economic crisis. It is often said it is because of their economic policies, yet the reality is more complex. This year marks 50 years since Norway’s employees (organised in LO) and employers (organised in NHO) began their cooperation project. Bjørn Gustavsen takes a look at how autonomy and workplace learning became central to the project:

Work environment gives Nordic growth sectors competitive edge

(Dec 14, 2012) 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.

Editorial: Changing media and redundant journalists

(Nov 15, 2012) Are the big media corporations panicking in the face of changing media habits when redundancies spread across the industry? Falling classifieds revenues, budget cuts and fewer readers are shaking Nordic newspaper houses. Jobs are cut across the board and senior writers take early retirement, bidding a sad farewell after serving society for many years. What is happening?

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson: I believe the future is Nordic

(Nov 12, 2012) As the EU focuses intensively on the Euro and other economic problems, it has never been more important to intensify Nordic cooperation says the new President of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson.

Editorial: Art and culture shapes the future working life

(Oct 14, 2012) Working life is changing and improving constantly. The essence of art is to go beyond what is already there and point to something new. Can art and culture help innovation processes and the development of new jobs?

Nordic seniors want longer working lives

(Oct 13, 2012) 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?

Editorial: Nordic ministers’ fruitful Svalbard meeting

(Sep 21, 2012) Norway’s Minister of Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm wanted to celebrate Nordic cooperation and invited her colleagues to Svalbard.

Kristin Skogen Lund: NHO's new Director General getting down to business

(Sep 17, 2012) The wind in Kristin Skogen Lund’s sails has increased lately. As President of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) and a Telenor Group Director she has topped the list of Norway’s most powerful women two years in a row. Each time another top job has become available she has been touted as a possible candidate. But now that has ended: from 1 November Kristin Skogen Lund is the NHO’s Director General.

The Nordic model marries growth and equality

(Sep 13, 2012) 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.

Editorial: Youth on the edge

(Jun 28, 2012) Youth unemployment is a problem to which the open Nordic labour market should be part of the solution. ‘Jobbresan‘ (the Job Journey) organised by Nordic exchange programme Nordjobb is an exciting attempt at removing the remaining obstacles.

Editorial: Can apps open the door to a new working life?

(May 22, 2012) The mobile telephone is one of the best examples of Nordic cooperation there is. The use of the same standards across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden created a market which was big enough to allow companies like Nokia and Ericsson a head start and to become major exporters.