News
Agency workers should have equal rights
Feb 08, 2011
Workers hired through labour agencies should be granted the same rights to salaries, holidays and working hours as if they were hired directly by the company employing them, says a Swedish special investigator.
tema
Soft skills needed for the new White and Green jobs
Dec 06, 2010
The EU Commission has presented a new agenda for new skills and jobs. During the economic crisis there are still two kinds of jobs that are in extra demand – the white and the green ones.
tema
Changes to IT affect systems as well as the social environment
Dec 06, 2010
Many businesses and organisations change their IT systems, yet in 70 percent of cases the change ends in failure with regard to time, budget or function. There have been many studies of what went wrong. Einar Iveroth chose to study what went right in the cases that succeeded.
tema
Coaches compete for the unemployed Swedes
Dec 03, 2010
The Swedish government has charged the Public Employment Service with procuring coaches worth 1.1bn Kronor (€12m) for the year 2009. This created a fast growing market for coaching. Today 900 businesses have a contract with the employment service. The contracts don't guarantee any customers, however, and the businesses offering coaches must do their own marketing.
tema
Why Swedes are aware of integration issues
Dec 03, 2010
What is it that the trade unions and employers in Sweden do to make them top a ranking of awareness of integration issues made by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)?
News
Meeting of Nordic Labour Ministers: Turning point for youth politics
Dec 01, 2010
How do you reach youths who are not in education nor employment? How do you motivate youth to finish their education? How do you secure a safe transition between school and working life? These were among the questions when labour ministers met to discuss youth unemployment in Copenhagen on 25 November.
News
Nordic region's anti-social dumping drive
Nov 26, 2010
The fight against some Eastern European workers' bad working conditions in the Nordic countries depends on better information.
tema
Swedish employers and trade unions most aware of work place racism
Nov 26, 2010
Awareness of racism in the workplace is growing yet still very low in many EU countries. Swedish employers and trade unions have the highest awareness, while those in Estonia have the lowest, according to a European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report.
Portrait
Hillevi Engström: more social responsibility needed in working life
Nov 24, 2010
Once the leading star of Swedish Police, Hillevi Engström is now in charge of whipping working life into line. She wants to use her role as Minister for Employment to challenge businesses to take social responsibility. In return she offers economical incentives and an improved education system.
News
FMs Lavrov and Støre call border agreement small yet important
Nov 03, 2010
Norway's and Russia's Foreign Ministers signed an agreement on 2 November making it much easier for 9,000 Norwegians and 45,00o Russians to visit each other.
tema
Visa-free zone heralds Norwegian-Russian labour market in the North
Nov 03, 2010
Another milestone in Norwegian-Russian cooperation is reached as Norway and Russia agrees on visa-free travel for border region residents,. The visa-free zone crosses the Schengen border, making it a rarity in Europe. Yet there are reasons to remain patient. It could take another 12 months before the agreement comes into force.
tema
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Borders
The changes hidden behind the smokescreen
Nov 03, 2010
As the Iron Curtain came down, contacts between the Nordic region and Russia multiplied. Yet the image of the Eastern neighbour needs updating, even in the part of the Nordic region which has enjoyed the friendliest relationship - the Norwegian municipality of Sør-Varanger on the border with Russia. The nickel plant across the border has been a smokescreen both literally and figuratively.
tema
Russian Arcady's weekly commute to Finland
Nov 03, 2010
Many travel the 400 kilometres between Helsinki and St Petersburg on business. Yet despite improved communications, a common labour market still is some time away.
News
Work environment key to Swedish competitiveness
Nov 03, 2010
The work environment is often associated with risks, but now the Swedish government wants to turn the phrase on its head and highlight the positive sides. A good work environment can improve workers' health, lift the business and improve competitiveness. Those are some of the conclusions from the government's national action plan for the work environment which it presented in September.
Comments
Will Lex Laval work?
Nov 02, 2010
On 9 September the Swedish Building Workers' Union (Byggnads) took industrial action against a Lithuanian company building a school in Höllviken in Southern Sweden. The union demanded the company paid its Lithuanian workers according Swedish salary agreements. Are we heading towards a new Laval ruling?
tema
Visa-free travel between Russia and the EU - what will happen?
Nov 02, 2010
Most people in the Nordic countries take it for granted that they can travel abroad without the need for a visa. It's only needed for exotic destinations - or Russia. And Moscow uses every opportunity to bring the issue up with the EU.
News
Early, active measures to fight youth unemployment
Oct 11, 2010
All the Nordic countries are hard at work to limit the rising youth unemployment. The measures differ but there is broad agreement on the need for early, comprehensive and active measures to help youth finish their education.
tema
Danish Activation Centres provide link to working life
Oct 03, 2010
There's no better place to train for working life than in a workplace. That's the basic idea of Denmark's new Activation Centres. They work with the most challenging group of unemployed people, yet results are good. David Andersen is supported by his mentor Tina Andersen at the Kvickly supermarket.
tema
OECD: the most exposed young must get help now
Oct 03, 2010
"If we want to avoid a generation of unemployed, it's time to help the most exposed to get jobs or education. In the long term we need structural measures to improve the basic system," says Stefano Scarpetta, the OECD's deputy director for employment, labour and social affairs.
tema
IMF and ILO: young people at greater risk now than during previous crisis
Oct 03, 2010
The current economic crisis has hit young people harder than previous crisis. Youth unemployment usually rises fast in an economic downturn, but this time it has risen by 6.5 percent compared to an average 4 percent during earlier downturns.
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