Youth — Nordic Labour Journal

Iceland’s Starfatorgið: 50 percent found jobs or started studying

(Apr 15, 2015) 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

(Apr 15, 2015) The Baltic states are loosing active citizens fast, but in Estonia the authorities have started counting them back in.

Finland: Unemployed youths get more attention

(Mar 19, 2015) Finland’s youth guarantee means young people have become a higher priority within the public sector.

The Nordics: Failing reforms exclude youths with disabilities

(Mar 06, 2015) More flexibility does not lead to a more inclusive labour market. Political reforms carried out in the Nordic region in the first decade of the millennium do not have any measurable effects either, concludes the Nordic research group behind the report ‘New Policies to Promote Youth Inclusion’.

I follow safety instructions — they didn’t make them as a joke

(Nov 12, 2014) For Mathias Larsen and many other young Danes, a supermarket job is their first step into working life and their first meeting with work environment challenges — of which young people get more than their fair share.

A guarantee for the future?

(Oct 15, 2014) There are fewer young people outside education, employment or training in Denmark than in Sweden. Why do the Danes succeed? While all of Europe is learning from the Finnish youth guarantee, the Nordic Labour Journal has spoken to Nordic youths about their experiences, and examined how countries succeed with their measures. Central to them all are vocational educations, apprenticeships and internships.

Fewer youths equals more jobs?

(Oct 15, 2014) As the workforce ages and the number of young people of working age falls, their chance of finding a job increases. But it is still too early for politicians to sit back and relax. Powerful measures are needed to fight youth unemployment. One solution is to create more apprenticeships.

Youth guarantee rolls out across the EU

(Oct 15, 2014) Finland and Austria are in the vanguard when the EU is developing new ways of supporting young people at risk of becoming unemployed. Finland’s youth guarantee means everyone will get a job, internship or training within three months, and the country’s long-term youth unemployment is the lowest in all of the EU.

Finnish forest industry keen on apprenticeships

(Oct 15, 2014) An increasing number of young people find work in Finnish industry via apprenticeships. In recent years the forest industry has traded in its own traditional training schemes with other kinds of education — and the programmes are popular.

Denmark strengthens vocational education

(Oct 15, 2014) Few young Danes are outside of the labour market. Improved vocational education should get even more of them into training and jobs.

Norwegian employers’ organisation Virke: more apprentices please

(Oct 15, 2014) It is hard to find a better role model for apprentices than Henrik Tanum. He is full of enthusiasm and drive. Right now he is also the face of the Norwegian employers’ organisation Virke, as he is learning the job as their receptionist.

Swedish municipalities target youth unemployment

(Oct 15, 2014) Over the past seven years, Sweden’s Public Employment Service has taken on more and more responsibility for labour market measures aimed at young people. But it has been a challenging task, and municipalities have become increasingly central to getting people into work or training. If they don’t, the cost of marginalisation lands on the municipalities’ desk.

Youth unemployment — light at the end of the tunnel?

(Oct 14, 2014) The tide is turning. Starting this year, Europe’s working-age population is falling, but that does not solve the problem of youth unemployment. We went to North Sweden to see how a small municipality is dealing with the challenges. We have looked at apprenticeship systems in Norway, Denmark and Finland to see what works, and we met Finnish youths who have been given a new chance through the youth guarantee.

Fresh thinking is crucial

(Dec 11, 2013) At the Employment Forum in Brussels, a labour life conference with participants from across Europe, one message was repeated over and over: no matter how much you give unemployed people training, nothing happens unless you create jobs. But how? Fresh thinking is crucial.

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.

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.

Do the statistics paint a true picture of youth unemployment?

(Dec 11, 2013) There are considerable difference between the Nordic countries in their levels of youth unemployment and how long it lasts. But are some of the differences a result of the way in which statistics are gathered, and are Sweden and Finland really doing worse than any of the other countries in all aspects?

British youth trapped in zero hour contracts

(Nov 07, 2013) In the UK the use of so-called zero hour contracts is increasing in step with the country’s economic uncertainty. Employers say the contracts created jobs and give workers more freedom. Trade unions fight what they call the exploitation of young people.