In focus 2015
Refugees — burden or resource?
In a short amount of time refugees’ chances of getting to the Nordic countries have been dramatically reduced. In the first ten months of 2015 , before the tightening of rules, more than 170,000 people applied for asylum in a Nordic country. Many of the new arrivals will be turned down. The Nordic region will still get a solid boost of labour. The future challenge will be integration. Are refugees a threat to Nordic welfare societies? Can refugees be included in working life without lowering wages and risking the creation of a new economic underclass?
Working life research and the future
Working life research and the future Where are the working life researchers in the debate about the future? asks Ann Bergman, Professor in working life science at the University of Karlstad. Despite big changes when it comes to gender, ethnicity and class, not many studies consider how this will influence working life. At the Norwegian Work Research Institute, researchers have been studying the vision of the new working life, where work is said to be more about doing something meaningful than earning money. Is that right? And how will the enormous flow of information known as Big Data influence working life research?
Shadow economies - the Nordic strategies
Carrot or stick? The Nordic countries have different strategies for fighting the shadow economy. Finland and Sweden have used tax incentives to make it cheaper to buy declared labour. Norway and Denmark use controls as a main tool. In Norway six authorities coordinate the work, while Denmark's new government feels controls have gone too far. Above: a Norwegian coordinated control at a construction site
Nordjobb 30 years: creating the future Nordic enthusiasts
Nordjobb is one of the most concrete of the many Nordic cooperation projects. Giving 750 youths the chance to spend a few months working in a different country might not sound like much. But the experience changes many people's view of the Nordic region. For others the experience is life-changing.
PIAAC Nordic: many adults poor at problem solving with PC
Nordic countries get top scores in OECD’s survey of adult competencies. Now new comparative Nordic research reveals that far from everyone is on the winning team. A surprising 10 percent of the population have poor skills in literacy, numeracy and problem solving using a PC. If nothing is done, many risk being excluded from working and public life. These are the results from the first PIAAC for the Nordic countries which measures adult competencies. The Nordic Labour Journal has been given a preview and features interviews with representatives from the Nordic research network behind PIAAC, from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Estonia.
A Nordic helping hand to marginalised youths
A large group of youths are not in education, employment or training - so-called NEETs. There is increased focus across Europe on ways to prevent this group of young people from permanently falling outside of the labour market. The Nordic countries have good experiences with finding, motivating and preparing these youths for work, and many of these experiences were discussed at a Copenhagen conference on fighting youth unemployment on 25 March 2015. In this month’s Focus we look at how successful the Nordic measures have been.
Faith, gender and the Nordic region
Magdalena Andersson and Margot Wallström in Sweden’s feminist government lift the country’s position in this year’s gender equality barometer. For the fifth year running the Nordic Labour Journal measures gender equality using our own barometer. It shows steadily improving gender equality in the Nordic region. This year we focus on churches where women are conquering top positions, Denmark where women are entering the boardrooms and Sweden’s drive for critical innovation with women in the lead.
The minimum wage — fit for the Nordic region?
While Nordic trade unions consider a minimum wage to be a catastrophe, employees in many other EU countries see it as protection against social dumping and unreasonable labour market conditions. We have to debate a statutory minimum wage so that everybody can see the strengths of the Nordic collective agreement system, and the value this represents for employees and for society as a whole, says Bente Sorgenfrey, Bente Sorgenfrey, President for the Council of Nordic Trade Unions.
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