Employment
Articles on employment in chronological order.
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.
OECD: Wage cuts will not create jobs
Industrialised countries have reached the limit for how much wages can be cut. Since the start of the economic crisis, wages have fallen in real terms for half of all employees in OECD countries. Further cuts could be counter-productive and damage growth.
Iceland back on an even keel
Iceland is bouncing back after the hard years following the 2008 crisis. We tell the story of what happened that day, how Icelanders joined forces to stop anyone from going hungry and to stop youths from becoming social outsiders. Now unemployment is falling nearly as fast as it rose. As the economy improves Icelanders want a better life; more pay and more gender equality.
Look to Iceland
“Look how well the Icelanders have recovered from the crisis, “ says Christian Kastrop, Director at the OECD. And we will; our theme this time is Iceland’s transformation since the crisis hit in 2008. We also follow the report on the Nordic model, first launched in Reykjavik, to the OECD’s Paris headquarters.
Robot journalism pushes the boundaries for what’s possible
Robots are taking over tasks only humans used to master, like writing articles and taking pictures. They relentlessly gather information or photograph the same subject hundreds of times.
Recommendations ready for new Danish employment policy
There will be major changes to measures aimed at unemployed people on benefit if the Danish government follows the recently published recommendations from the so-called Carsten Koch committee. A new employment policy is expected to be ready before the summer recess.
Europe looking for new ways of creating new jobs
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.
Editorial: Can we afford not to invest in young people?
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.
Successful vocational training for long-term unemployed in the Arctic
The Arctic Vocational Foundation is a joint Nordic institution providing individualised training within more than 30 vocations to unemployed Finns, Swedes and Norwegians. This, is where Sweden’s Minister for Employment Hillevi Engström invited her Nordic colleagues and working life representatives to consultations. What makes this training so special?
More social enterprises on the horizon in Denmark
Social enterprises are being promoted both by the Nordic region and the EU. Denmark’s government has launched a new strategy.
Sweden: “More social dumping” after easing of labour immigration laws
In December 2008 the law for labour immigration into Sweden for people from outside the EU and EEA was changed. The labour market test was abandoned and today individual employers decide whether there is a shortage of labour. Critics say this means many employees no longer are protected by the law.
ILO: No extra jobs for youths despite older workers’ retirement
Europe must handle rising youth unemployment as well as an ageing population. The fact that young people don’t step into jobs which are vacated might seem like a paradox, but this is what is happening according to the International Labour Organisation, which stages a major conference in Oslo between 8 and 11 April.
OECD: Norway’s welfare system needs reform to keep people with mental issues in work
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.
The Nordic role in Europe’s crisis
Participants at the conference ‘Nordic ways out of the crisis’ agreed the Nordic countries can play an important role in southern Europe’s current economic crisis. Yet just how the Nordic countries can work together and how much support there is for such work remains uncertain.
Editorial: Labour migrants head North
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.
Nordic region next stop for the Portuguese?
Will the Nordic countries see an influx of labour form crisis-hit Mediterranean EU countries? Portugal’s emigration rose by 85 percent in 2011 and 240,000 Portuguese - two percent of the entire population - have emigrated in the past two years. In Switzerland they already make up the largest group of people born abroad. But are the Nordic countries equally tempting?
From Greek musical dream to Norwegian oil industry job
Iro loves music and wanted to learn how to build concert halls. So she moved from Thessaloniki to Trondheim to study acoustics. Meanwhile her home country was hit by a deep crisis. Now she is happy to have secured a job in the oil industry - and her brother Dimitris has joined her in Norway.
Doctors choose Sweden for work security and job satisfaction
Several Swedish embassies in southern European countries have seen a sharp increase in the number of people who are desperately seeking work. Meanwhile Swedish youths are wanted as guides by the tourism industry in Spain, Greece and Cyprus.
Spanish seek Icelandic jobs every day
Every day someone from Spain applies for a job in Iceland. Some Spanish travel there and go from workplace to workplace looking for jobs. Meanwhile, Portuguese who worked in Iceland before the financial crisis are getting back in touch with old employers to apply for work.
Anniken Huitfeldt: Minister of Labour with an eye for equality
”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?
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