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In Focus

Just how many older workers are there? And do they want to work more?

When the EU made 2012 the year for active ageing and solidarity between generations, Eurostat was tasked with producing relevant statistics. “It could become commonplace for people to move into retirement while still having one or both of their parents alive”, is one of the thought-provoking conclusions.

Just how many older workers are there? And do they want to work more? - Read More…

Nordic ministers want a more open working life

Nordic ministers want a more open working life

How do you open up the labour market for more people with disabilities? It is a hot topic. Despite crisis and unemployment taking hold, labour ministers keep their strategic focus on mobilising more people to join working life. They highlight the long-term need for labour and that all have the right to be fully part of working and social life. The challenge is to get working life partners to back their initiatives.

Nordic ministers want a more open working life - Read More…

Disability a hindrance also to the labour market

Disability a hindrance also to the labour market

Despite all ambitious attempts at getting people with disabilities into the Finnish labour market the sad truth is that they are being discriminated against. Now the government is making new efforts to give them a better chance.

Disability a hindrance also to the labour market - Read More…

Working life’s hidden power

Working life’s hidden power

It is difficult for people with disabilities in Sweden to find jobs, and unemployment is considerably higher among people in this group compared to the rest of the labour force. Faced with a shrinking workforce, there’s a need to get as many as possible into work. The fight to secure the right to work for people with disabilities has become a way to work for social sustainability.

Working life’s hidden power - Read More…

Focus on the working ability of people with disabilities

Focus on the working ability of people with disabilities

A new Danish campaign aims to get more people with disabilities into work by getting job centres, businesses and people with disabilities themselves to look for opportunities rather than obstacles.

Focus on the working ability of people with disabilities - Read More…

Getting closer to members could secure union survival

Nordic trade unions must get closer to their members and provide a better service at a lower price. If not the Nordic labour market model will die, warn labour market experts.

Getting closer to members could secure union survival - Read More…

”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions

”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions

From 2007 to 2011 Swedish trade unions lost 273,000 members. Worst hit was the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the lowest numbers of union membership was found among young people and people of foreign heritage. But unions are not passively watching the fall in membership numbers - on the contrary, they are mobilising to reach old and new members.

”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions - Read More…

How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps?

How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps?

Over the past decade the number of working days lost due to labour conflicts has been very low. Illegal industrial action has nearly disappeared altogether. Meanwhile the pay gap has widened considerably. But now there is fresh disquiet. How do unions deal with these new times?

How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps? - Read More…

Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation

Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation

Cooperation with the social partners is central when politicians in Norway and Denmark sit down to write new political programmes - be it Denmark’s new government programme or the programme for Norway’s 2012 presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation - Read More…

Transport facilities crucial to mining

Transport facilities crucial to mining

Nordic politicians are waking up to the possibilities for the mining industry. On 12 October foreign ministers in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council met in the LKAB mine in Kiruna. Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre (right below) and Sweden’s Carl Bildt arrived together on the ore train from Narvik.

Transport facilities crucial to mining - Read More…

Greenland’s red hot labour market

Greenland’s red hot labour market

Flemming Enequist stands at the stern of a Targa 37 with 600 horse powers ploughing him through the Godthåp fjord on his way to London Mining’s base camp 150 kilometres north-east of Greenland’s capital Nuuk. He works for the local authority and his job is to tempt young Greenlanders to find work in the mining industry.

Greenland’s red hot labour market - Read More…

Mining equipment: a Nordic niche

Mining equipment: a Nordic niche

Mining equipment manufacturers have been surfing on a wave of high metal prices. With increasing needs for metals in countries like China, India and Brazil, sales and employment figures keep rising.

Mining equipment: a Nordic niche - Read More…

Welfare model put to the test

Welfare model put to the test

The Nordic countries worked their way through the 2008 financial crisis. The welfare model largely shared by the five countries proved effective. Now the world economy is on shaky ground yet again. Can the Nordic model still be a third way between the more brutal Anglo-Saxon model and the lack of state financial control seen in many Mediterranean countries?

Welfare model put to the test - Read More…

Equality driver of Iceland’s success

Equality driver of Iceland’s success

Higher taxes for those who have the most, protection of the poor and debt relief to businesses and households - all part of the recipe to get a bankrupt state back on track according to the Icelandic experience. You also need a proper post-party tidy-up, get the economy in balance and prevent criminal activity from repeating itself.

Equality driver of Iceland’s success - Read More…

An election coloured by crisis

An election coloured by crisis

Which politicians can best guide Denmark through the current economic crisis, where more and more Danes fear going bust or end up unemployed? That is the deciding question in the Danish elections this month.

An election coloured by crisis - Read More…

Populists govern in opposition

Populists govern in opposition

Support for Finland’s populist True Finns Party has grown after the spring parliamentary elections. It means the new government is forced to take into account the factors behind the party’s growth, and first and foremost their demand for more expansive social policies to support the weakest in society.

Populists govern in opposition - Read More…

Ole Norrback: Border obstacles are all about political will

Ole Norrback: Border obstacles are all about political will

While Nordic politicians talk about the challenges of globalisation and how to turn the Nordic region into a dynamic region of growth, new border obstacles emerge to complicate lives of citizens and businesses alike.

Ole Norrback: Border obstacles are all about political will - Read More…

The ten most serious border obstacles

Border obstacles are not only things that make it difficult for Nordic citizens to settle down and work in a different Nordic country from their own. They are also problems which arise when you move back home, when you fall ill or when you need to draw your pension. NLJ and the Freedom of Movement Forum have drawn up a list of the ten most important border obstacles for working life.

The ten most serious border obstacles - Read More…

Nordic working group to suggest how to remove border obstacles

A Nordic working group has been commissioned to present solutions for how to remove 39 border obstacles identified as being to the detriment of working life and social insurance systems in the Nordic countries.

Nordic working group to suggest how to remove border obstacles - Read More…

New ways of life increase need for Nordic ombudsman

New ways of life increase need for Nordic ombudsman

Border obstacles have been on the political agenda since the Common Nordic Labour Market was established in 1954. When one obstacle is removed, another pops up.

New ways of life increase need for Nordic ombudsman - Read More…

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