Employment Offices — Nordic Labour Journal

From vulnerable woman to professional knitter

(Dec 11, 2013) Danish social entrepreneur Nina Brandi has successfully involved vulnerable women in her knitting business mormor.no which sells hand and machine knitted products to a global market.

Europe looking for new ways of creating new jobs

(Dec 11, 2013) Across Denmark 130 grandmothers are knitting children’s clothes for the company Mormor.nu. There are customers in New York, South Korea and Australia — and in the Nordic countries. The project is an example of a closer cooperation between the public and private sector and civil society. We have looked at some of the innovative projects in a Europe which desperately needs to think fresh.

Partnerships could create more jobs in Europe

(Dec 11, 2013) Labour market measures and various types of training are not enough, no matter how good they are. Job creation is the crucial thing and it must happen through cooperation between the public and private sectors and civil society. These were some of the conclusions when labour market experts met at the annual Employment Forum in Brussels.

Employers need help to hire marginalised people

(Dec 11, 2013) Employers’ attitudes when it comes to hiring workers with reduced work ability is not necessarily governed by ill will. A targeted effort to support employers through a project running for several years in Satakunta in western Finland showed that they need facts and practical advise in order to successfully hire people who for instance have mental challenges.

Second-hand bikes showing the way back to the labour market

(Dec 11, 2013) Jasmina Smajić Šupuk from Slovenia was unemployed for two years but had a background from voluntary organisations like Amnesty International. When she could find no employer who would take her on, she decided to start her own business — finding other people jobs.

Editorial: Can we afford not to invest in young people?

(Sep 13, 2013) What can get more young people into work? Where are the successful experiences that shows it pays to give young people a chance in working life? Everyone shares the same goal: getting people into work while maintaining an efficient use of taxpayers’ money, says Sweden’s Minister for Labour Hillevi Engström in this month’s theme.

More companies take responsibility in fight against youth unemployment

(Sep 13, 2013) What does a successful anti youth unemployment project look like? The Nordic labour ministers have asked Danish consultancy agency Damvad to map Nordic youth projects that are based on cooperation between authorities and companies.

Bjarne Brøndbo, the employer who didn’t say no after the first attempt

(May 22, 2013) He stood there with his cigaret behind his ear, asking: Bjarne, where can I smoke? “That was the first thing he said to me,” says employer Bjarne Brøndbo.

New employment policy for Denmark

(Feb 08, 2013) Municipal job centres will undergo a thorough review and might need a total overhaul. Previous employment measures do not work, the government says.

Swedish youths’ first job in Norway

(Jun 28, 2012) Anyone moving to another Nordic country must have some money - the first pay check doesn’t come immediately, but the living costs do. In Norway you normally have to pay a three months’ deposit on top of the first month’s rent - enough to stop many young people in their tracks.

Youth on the edge

(Jun 27, 2012) Youth unemployment is a big problem in the Nordic region. Most exposed are those who have neither jobs nor are they in any kind of education. Many youths move to a different Nordic country to work. But so far this has not helped those who are unemployed. This summer the Nordic exchange programme Nordjobb launches ‘Jobbresan’ (the Job Journey).

The typical cross border commuter is Swedish

(Apr 15, 2012) A new Statistics Sweden survey due to be published in May shows Nordic cross border commuting increased by 166 percent between 2001 and 2008. Swedes are most likely to work in neighbouring countries, and now 80 percent of Nordic citizens who commute to Denmark and Norway come from Sweden. Higher wages seem to be the biggest draw.

Loa Brynjulfsdottir wants to defend the collective agreement model

(Dec 12, 2011) Loa Brynjulfsdottir is the new general secretary at the Council of Nordic Trade Unions, NFS. Her top priority is to further defend the Nordic collective agreement model. It is under pressure from the more regulations-based way in which labour market issues are dealt with within the EU.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt: Danes must work more

(Oct 06, 2011) More people must work more, productivity must increase and salaries will freeze. These are central elements to Denmark’s new centre-left government’s labour market policy, which has been relatively well received by both employers’ and workers’ organisations.

Temporary work agencies: misfits in Nordic working life?

(Apr 07, 2011) This year will see the implementation of the EU directive on temporary agency work which is meant to improve labour mobility and facilitate the growth in temporary work agencies. It will also lay down demands for equal treatment of permanent staff and workers recruited through temporary work agencies.

Theme: The staffing agency trade upsets working life's power balance

(Apr 07, 2011) Over the past few years an entirely new trade has quickly emerged, providing temporary staff to hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, cleaning companies and to industry. Nordic Labour Journal has met employees and employers to find out how they adapt to this development.

Coaches compete for the unemployed Swedes

(Dec 03, 2010) The Swedish government has charged the Public Employment Service with procuring coaches worth 1.1bn Kronor (€12m) for the year 2009. This created a fast growing market for coaching. Today 900 businesses have a contract with the employment service. The contracts don't guarantee any customers, however, and the businesses offering coaches must do their own marketing.

Denmark's massive bid for youth employment and education

(Jul 01, 2010) Fighting youth unemployment is a top priority in Denmark. A range of new measures are in place to get more young people into education.

Youth unemployment: Iceland fights on many fronts

(Jul 01, 2010) Unemployment used to be a relatively unknown phenomenon in Iceland. But it skyrocketed with the 2008 financial collapse.

Employers offered wage subsidies to hire young people in Finland

(Jul 01, 2010) Finland's youth unemployment exploded last winter and is now nearly level with that of Spain. The government woke up to the fact in late spring and has introduced wage subsidies targeted at young school leavers and those who cannot find a job.