In Focus
Severe drop in childbirth rates across the Nordics
What will happen to the Nordic labour market when birth rates in all of the five Nordic countries have fallen to record-low levels? Can existing assisted fertilisation technology help increase the number of children? Or is the drop in foreign adoptions larger?
Danish expert: Support young people to get pregnant, not to freeze their eggs
Female employees in large American companies can have their eggs frozen and delay having children – as a workplace benefit. A leading Danish infertility expert recommends Nordic employers and governments take an opposite approach and support young people to have children while they are students or newly employed.
Midwife – a norm-breaking profession for Swedish men
The Swedish labour market is very gender segregated. But some go against the grain. Like the men choosing to become midwives.
"Structures maintain the gender-segregated labour market"
“Men are underrepresented across the entire welfare sector, including healthcare, social care and education. Research shows that the reasons primarily lie on an organisational and structural level and that efforts to get more men to choose jobs in the welfare sector therefore must also be targeted at an organisational and structural level.”
2024 Equality barometer: Three significant women have disappeared from power
Two years ago, it looked like the 24 positions of power in the NLJ’s gender equality barometer were just a few years away from being equally divided between men and women. Women had reached 92 points, and at 100 they would be on par with men. But in 2023, women’s points fell to 72 and this year sees a further fall down to 65 points.
Danish Royal stardust for youth jobs in Esbjerg
”Energy for Each Other” is a youth initiative in Esbjerg municipality, known across Denmark, which has won an award for getting young people into education and work. Three of those young people now work at Den Jyske Kontrolcentral, where head of operations Erik Sørensen is very content with his young co-workers.
Employment specialist helped Norwegian Julia (17) find her dream job
Close cooperation between two public authorities in Norway is giving young people with mental health challenges a new chance in the classroom or in the labour market. Employment specialist Anne Tvedt helped Julia Engan Pettersen find her dream job.
Iceland: Work is better than therapy for vulnerable youth
“It pays to invest in people, and we must never give up on our young people,” says Vigdís Jónsdóttir, the CEO of the job rehabilitation centre VIRK in Iceland. Last year, VIRK was one of the signatories to a memorandum of understanding involving a large increase in support for young people in vulnerable situations.
Nordic researchers want political action on NEETs
More and more young people in the Nordics are not in education or employment. Not enough is done to help young people facing extra challenges, argue Nordic researchers.
Considerable local differences in Sweden's efforts for NEETs
Swedish municipalities have very different approaches to how they help more young people with social inclusion, according to a survey that also includes examples of successful measures. Meanwhile, a Nordic project is working to improve young people’s mental health – one of the biggest risk factors for ending up in social exclusion.
Aiming for full mobility in the Nordic region’s largest labour market
The Öresund Bridge is 25 next year, yet despite the good commuting opportunities it offers there is still a way to go before the Nordic’s largest labour market is fully integrated. This year, Sweden holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers, and greater mobility in the Nordic region is a top priority.
How the EU deals with border barriers
The EU also has programs working on removing border barriers. The best-known is Solvit, a problem-solving network which can be found in every EU/EEA country. Citizens and businesses can use this free service if they believe a country is in breach of EU rules and legislation.
Nordic Freedom of Movement Council gears up to banish border barriers
The Nordic region aims to be the world’s most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. To achieve that, we need to change gears, facilitate trade and focus on removing the remaining border barriers, says Anders Ahnlid, the new Swedish representative on the Nordic Freedom of Movement Council.
Immigrants in Sweden queue up to work in Denmark
While Copenhagen suffers labour shortages, Malmö has high unemployment. But for many third-country nationals on the Swedish side of the border, Danish work permit requirements are so high that cross-border commuting is made impossible. This issue is a priority for the Freedom of Movement Council, while an EU project is also looking for solutions.
Not easy for Norwegians to do the Swedes’ dirty laundry
It is not always easy to do business across Nordic borders when you are self-employed. It costs both time and money, as the owners of laundry service Trysil Vask og Rens experienced when daring to cross the border into Sweden.
Freedom of Movement Council rids Nordics of some 90 border barriers
Since 2014, the Nordic Freedom of Movement Council has helped get rid of nearly 90 border barriers between the Nordic countries. But the Council members are not running out of work – there are still plenty to get on with.
Border barriers a hot topic in “Little Iceland”
At Jónshús, a culture house for Icelanders in Copenhagen, border barriers have become the topic of the day. Top themes: securing a bank account and claiming child benefits.
Can the Nordic labour markets survive the green transition?
Nearly one in three Nordic citizens worry they might lose their jobs because of the green transition, according to a new Nordregio survey. How can the social partners work together to make the transition as fair as possible? That was the theme during the Nordic dialogue conference in Iceland.
Nordic employers’ important role in the green transition
When we talk about the Nordic labour market model, it often revolves around how high the unionisation rate is. However, it is equally important that employers are organised if good agreements are to be made.
The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise on Nordic cooperation
How does the Nordic cooperation on the employers' side look today? The Nordic Labour Journal asked the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise to answer a list of questions and got the following answers from their Press Secretary Olle Bring.
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