Employment
Articles on employment in chronological order.
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.
Finland’s changing labour market
Finland is struggling to emerge from the economic crisis, and it is being felt in the labour market. Only one in ten Finns believe the situation will improve this year. Nearly half of them believe things will get worse, according to a working life barometre from the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy.
Opening the labour market for vulnerable citizens
One hour’s work a week is better than nothing. That is the thinking behind the major drive in recent years to get vulnerable Danes into the labour market. New research shows businesses are ready to create small jobs for vulnerable groups.
Nordregio: Young Icelanders shy away from traditional occupations
Icelandic youths are not interested in a future career in agriculture or fisheries. The only animals they will consider looking after in the future are pets. They would rather become coaches or work in the fitness sector, according to a fresh study from Nordregio which has mapped the future perspectives of young people in the Arctic.
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?
Jari Lindström: The Minister of Employment who switched sides
A few years ago Jari Lindström was an unemployed paper mill worker in an industrial town with no future. Today he is Minister of Justice and Employment in the Finnish government planning considerable benefit cuts. Lindström has been forced to defend decisions he was fighting against not long ago.
Labour market and gender: tough challenges for Finland’s new government
Negotiations to form a new government in Finland are over and the new government ministers in the three party coalition are ready to start the job of lifting the country out of the economic crisis. For the past ten years there has been plenty of political activity but the results have not materialised. Labour market reform is one of the most difficult issues.
New comparative Nordic research measures adult competencies
For the first time ever there is a Nordic version of the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, PIAAC. PIAAC was first published in 2013. The survey comprises comparative data from 24 countries.
Numeracy, not literacy, most important in working life
Numeracy is more important for participating in working life than previously thought. An OECD assessment of adult competencies shows that being bad at maths increases the risk of unemployment and influences wage levels.
An eye for the individual
How do you help young people who are loosing their footing as they enter adulthood? How do you motivate youths who are not in education, employment or training find the right track to their future? These were key questions when the Nordic countries recently discussed how to fight youth unemployment.
Building bridges to education helps youths move forward
Denmark has had success supporting marginalised youths to make sure they get an education. Mentor support, teaching and help finding apprenticeships makes the difficult transition into studies and work easier.
A bridge to education across Denmark
The Danish project of building bridges to education for marginalised youths has proved so promising that it is now being rolled out across the whole of Denmark on a permanent basis.
Motivation key to get marginalised youths into education
Measures aimed at helping young people into jobs and education should support the youths’ own inner motivation. To do that you need to realise that young, marginalised people are very different from each other, says a Danish youth researcher and author of a new book on motivation.
New concept at Sweden’s employment service gains young people’s trust
Good treatment and rapid measures targeted at the needs of young unemployed people, good coordination between municipalities and the public employment service — a proven way of achieving progress. The concept was developed in the project ‘Unga in’ and is carried forward in UNGKOMP.
Iceland’s Starfatorgið: 50 percent found jobs or started studying
The financial crisis was tough on young Icelanders. Many were unemployed for so long that they no longer qualified for unemployment benefit, only welfare money. Between 2012 and 2014 they were sent to Starfatorgið (‘the labour exchange’). Over half of the young people participating in Starfatorgið got a job or started studying.
Estonians are returning home
The Baltic states are loosing active citizens fast, but in Estonia the authorities have started counting them back in.
Minimum wage could be on ETUC congress agenda
Nearly all European countries have now introduced a statutory minimum wage. At the end of 2014 Germany introduced a minimum wage of €8.50 an hour. But the Nordic countries are sticking to their agreement model.
New tendencies are focusing minds
The OECD leaves little doubt that the Nordic region has come through the crisis better than most other countries, with low unemployment, high employment and little inequality. But take nothing for granted. New tendencies are focusing minds. Organised labour is under pressure while the sharing economy spreads at an ever faster rate. The Nordic Labour Journal checks out the facts.
The sharing economy threatens Nordic trade unions
The sharing economy is a brand new phenomenon which has exploded into fast moving marketplaces with names like Uber, Netflix and Airbnb. It’s all about renting, not owning — be it a car, a boat, a bike or using your own home to make a little extra cash. New online technology creates new opportunities for both consumers and producers. We look at how the sharing economy is shaping up in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, and how it affects the labour market.
Social Europe under pressure
There’s a conflict between the EU’s social ambitions and national autonomy, not least when it comes to the labour market, Sweden’s newly elected Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson told a seminar in Stockholm on 22 October.
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