In Focus
The research project against all odds: Olli Kangas on Finland’s universal basic income
Does Finland’s experiment with a universal basic income prove that this could be a solution for the future? We will not know until 2020. But in one way, the research project has already been a success – the fact that it was possible to carry it out at all.
The platform giants are profitable – but create few new jobs
The digital revolution will transform the work force in the 21st Century, just as the industrial revolution. But technology will create a host of new type of jobs and challenges as society moves from muscle and brainpower to data power, according to professors Bo Dahlbom and Ragnar Torvik.
The Nordics could take a digital lead – with the right measures
Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) can create growth in the Nordic region without creating unemployment – but rapid political action is needed, says the management consulting firm McKinsey.
Skills and fair distribution a precondition for digitalisation
Nordic people are keen to adopt new technology at work. The region is leading the way. The challenge is making sure workers get the chance to adapt to new skills, how to organise skills development and who should pay. We need better systems to handle the challenges, said Ylva Johansson at the recent conference on the Future of Work in Stockholm.
OECD: Robots less of a threat to Nordic jobs, but major IT gender gap is
14 percent of jobs in OECD countries are at high risk of becoming automated, while a further 32 percent of jobs will change radically, says Mark Keese, Head of the Skills and Employability Division at the OECD.
Digitalisation gives job centres new tasks and opportunities
Artificial intelligence (AI) and robot technology can tighten the quality for Nordic job centres, but also represents new challenges for authorities – including data safety.
Google wants to enter the Nordic labour market
Optimism clearly trumped pessimism at the Nordic conference on the Future of Work in Stockholm in the middle of May. Companies, politicians and trade unions mainly praised the digital future.
The Disruption Council explores the future
Long before the Danish Disruption Council ends its work, it has already identified a range of ways to secure that digitalisation, robots and artificial intelligence (AI) increase wealth and improve welfare, even though many traditional jobs will disappear.
Can continuously learning save Finland’s future competences needs?
In Finland, experts are looking at education policies and more for solutions to the future labour market’s challenges. A government-appointed panel has presented its first report, ‘Ett ständigt lärande Finland’ (Finland – a country of continuous learning) – which has been subject to criticism from trade unions for being light on concrete measures.
No fish is wasted with Icelandic technology
Iceland’s fisheries industry has undergone a revolution in recent years. Fishing companies and tech firms have worked together to develop high tech solutions. Iceland is a global leader when it comes to developing fish processing technology. Productivity has shot up, and new computerised machinery is being exported.
Jon Erik Dølvik: Technology easily blinds us, yet we can shape our own future of work
He does not use the analogy himself, but when Jon Erik Dølvik talks about the future of work it sounds as if he is talking about the Gulf Stream. When researching whether the Nordic model can manage challenges like automation, globalisation and the platform economy, he is mostly interested in how the flow of capital affects employment.
Digitalisation now also concerns people with higher education
Camilla Tepfers’ choice of words is surprising as she describes the skills needed when machines have learnt what we thought only humans could to: Those who can tolerate boredom are the winners, she might say. Or those who consider things in more depth.
The difference between a therapy dog and a Japanese robot seal
Robots help elderly care workers. Surveys show robots cannot replace employees, but they can help in their work and improve older people’s everyday life.
Newly arrived immigrant women – more than a labour market project?
682,948 non-western immigrants arrived in the Nordic region between 2010 and 2015. The aim is to integrate as many of them as possible into the labour market. The challenge is greatest for female refugees, who often face discrimination in their native countries and again risk being discriminated against in their new home country.
OECD: More flexibility needed to get female refugees into work
There is a need for more flexible measures to integrate newly arrived refugee women in the Nordic region, according to the OECD. Research shows that after years of fleeing, birth rates increase dramatically. When women feel safe, they have children – but that also makes it difficult for them to benefit from labour market introduction programmes.
Nordic focus on getting more newly arrived women into work
To succeed in getting more newly arrived women into work, the Nordic countries need more employment measures, an increased focus on childcare and documented results from measures, according to a new study.
Project Mirjam tackles prejudices about and in the Swedish labour market
Project Mirjam targets women with low levels of education who have been granted asylum or residency in Sweden. It is considerably harder for them to find work compared to men in a similar situation, but guidance focused on work and gender equality produces results.
New measures in the fight for gender equality in the Nordics
The 2018 gender equality barometer indicates a more equal division of power between the sexes in the Nordic region. Only Finland is lagging behind. #metoo shows more needs to be done in the fight for gender equality. The Nordic region is getting to grips with basic and structural changes in order to improve the gender balance in the workplace and in society as a whole.
Women tighten grip on power in Norway - bottom place for Finland
When Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg met the world’s most powerful man, alongside her was also Norway’s first ever female Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ine Eriksen Søreide. Norway still leads NLJ’s gender equality barometer by a good margin, while Finland has fewer women in positions of power than any Nordic country has had for 19 years.
How should trade unions handle #metoo?
The #metoo movement’s many appalling stories show that parallel to rules and regulations there has been culture of silence which has made sexual assaults and harassment possible. This is a challenge for trade unions on all levels, concluded Nordic trade union representatives at a meeting in Stockholm in February.
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