Reforms — Nordic Labour Journal

Working environment one important key to get Swedes to work for longer

(Apr 16, 2013) On 9 April the Swedish pension group presented its final report ‘Measures for a longer working life’. As we live longer we need to work for longer, and the review recommends establishing a flexible ‘a recommended retirement age’ for pensions, linked to life expectancy.

OECD: Norway’s welfare system needs reform to keep people with mental issues in work

(Mar 08, 2013) Norway’s sickness benefit system allowing 100 percent compensation from day one is too generous. Financial incentives for all parties - employees and employers, unions, municipalities, schools and mental health care services - should help them take responsibility. That is the OECD’s message to Norway.

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?

Print shrinks as advertising goes online

(Nov 15, 2012) Newspapers are the fastest shrinking businesses in the USA according to a LinkedIn survey. The social network has looked at their members’ stated occupations. The number of journalists fell by 28.4 percent between 2007 and 2011. Europe and the Nordic countries are right behind this trend.

Denmark’s media storm

(Nov 15, 2012) Experts and newspapers warn of the death of even more print media and a decline in the quality of news ahead of political negotiations on moving state media support from printed to digital media. The government calls it necessary change.

Jobs disappear before the ink is dry

(Nov 15, 2012) Finnish journalists have faced major changes in recent years - many of them negative ones. Jobs are disappearing and media owners’ visions for the future are bleak.

Ole Jacob Sunde: the important thing is the media - not whether news is printed on paper

(Nov 15, 2012) “The most important thing is to have good platforms and sources of information where you find important and relevant news and stories presented with integrity. Which medium is being used is less important in the long run. We should make use of technology,” says Ole Jacob Sunde, chairman both at Schibsted and the Tinius Trust.

Women’s businesses mirror gender segregated labour market

(Mar 08, 2012) There is strong political will in Sweden to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship. Between 2007 and 2014 the centre-right government spent a total of 800m SEK (€90m) on supporting, developing and highlighting women’s enterprise.

Wide support for early retirement and flexjob reform

(Mar 08, 2012) There’s an increased drive in Denmark to stop young people ending up in benefit traps. Meanwhile there are cuts in subsidies to the flexjob scheme and early retirement.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir: The gender pay gap is now the most important equality issue

(Mar 08, 2012) Iceland’s Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir has managed what many thought near impossible. She has cut public spending in the wake of the market crash without negatively impacting Iceland’s social security system.

OECD: health sector Finland’s problem

(Feb 09, 2012) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s economic survey of Finland shows the country has done well during the debt crisis which has hit many Eurozone members. The country is not facing any imminent crisis, but needs a comprehensive reform of the state health sector.

Danes need to increase productivity

(Jan 31, 2012) The Danish economy is only slowly and very unevenly recovering from the financial crisis which is sweeping across most of Europe, says the OECD. Productivity growth is one of the main problems.

Time for transnational collective agreements?

(Mar 07, 2011) This year workers in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden will be told how many shares they have earned in the French corporation Suez S.A.

Hanne Bjurstrøm: Norway's new Minister of Labour with a vision

(May 05, 2010) Norway's new Minister of Labour, Hanne Bjurstrøm, wants to sort out the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, find efficient systems to deal with social dumping and help more people with reduced work capacity. Her vision: to help anyone who is able to do some work get out of being passive recipients of state support. To do that she needs the support of companies.

New rules for long-term sick leave in Sweden

(Jan 14, 2010) Swedish job centres face busy times as 16,000 people on long-term sick leave are transferred from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency to the Public Employment Service. From now on they should be offered individual help and advise to help them re-join working life. The move has been met with fierce criticism, forcing the government to back down on several points.

Municipal job activation in the firing line

(Oct 26, 2009) Denmark has made municipalities solely responsible for job activation and employment projects for the unemployed in what has proved to be a very controversial reform.

Finland's system of "job alternation" becomes permanent

(Sep 20, 2009) The popular Finnish system of "job alternation" will continue. The system proved so popular and efficient the government decided in September to draft a law to make it permanent.