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Denmark: Flexible working arrangements and sheltered employment
Jun 01, 2001 It is better to change the workplace than to force people into early retirement. This is the catch phrase of a reform currently taking place in Denmark. New ways of working have been introduced: flexible working arrangements and sheltered employment.
News
Head-hunters to help Longterm Unemployed
Jun 01, 2001 Expert group proposes new models to meet labour market demands: “We believe that improving the function of the labour market and ensuring the availability of labour will be key factors in the next few years. This policy line includes the provision of some additional services for more hard-to-place applicants by ‘head-hunters’,” says Heikki Räisänen, an adviser at the Finnish Ministry of Labour.
forskning
Responses by vocational guidance psychologists to unconscious expectations
Jun 01, 2001 It is easy to believe that counselling and guidance are rational, cognitive and conscious activities and forget the unconscious aspects of these tasks. This research, however, proved that the transferences of the clients and, perhaps especially the countertransferences of the psychologists, should be taken into consideration, if our aim is to improve the quality and the results in these fields.
Comments
Book in review: Hot conflicts in the Workplace
Jun 01, 2001 After the Cold War ended, a series of conflicts and civil wars broke out. Although none of them threatened the world order, they were bloody and claimed many victims. Norwegian working life researchers Bjørg Aase Sørensen and Asbjørn Grimsmo see a similar trend developing on today’s labour market in which hierarchical structures have been replaced by teamwork and substantially streamlined organisations.
News
Initiative to strengthen Nordic cooperation in the IT area
Jan 01, 2001 The Nordic countries cannot rest on their laurels just because they have had success with the new technology. If IT is to be accessible to all, a joint effort and cooperation between the Nordic countries is needed, says Lennart Daleus, leader of the Swedish Centre party and member of the European Committee of the Nordic Council.
News
Fierce debate about Norwegian sickness benefit
Jan 01, 2001 The costs of sick pay and sickness pension in Norway have increased dramatically in recent years and correspond to half the income from the oil pumped out of the North Sea. This is worrying in consideration of not only the costs but also the drain on manpower.
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Is Volvo a car or a computer?
Jan 01, 2001 The Nordic countries are well advanced in the use of the new technology. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are at the forefront of Europe in terms of home PCs, Internet connections, and, not least, ownership of mobile telephones. But the lack of skilled labour can be an obstacle to continued rapid development, warn many experts.
News
A Nordic strategy for maintaining a supply of labour?
Jan 01, 2001 As with the rest of Europe, the labour force in the Nordic countries will change in the future. There is a great risk of a future lack of manpower. Therefore discussions will start between politicians and the social partners regarding future manpower requirements. The challenge is to find strategies that cover future manpower needs, without renouncing fundamental value systems.
News
Nordic PESs cooperate effectively - but continued obstacles to a true common labour market
Jan 01, 2001 «The public employment services (PESs) in the Nordic countries cooperate effectively when employers are looking for labour from neighbouring countries. Contacts are made easily and trustfully, and are based on confidence and familiarity. » So says international director Peter R. Myklebust, of the Norwegian Directorate of Labour.
Portrait
The Nordic Ministers of Labour
Jan 01, 2001 The issue of the supply of skilled labour is high on the agenda in the Nordic countries, as well as that of getting everybody on track for the new knowledge-based society. We have put four questions to the Ministers responsible for labour market policy in the Nordic countries, in order to hear their views on these challenges.
News
The Battle against Monotonous work
Jan 01, 2001 Through the implementation of a series of initiatives, the Danish Minister of Labour, Ove Hygum, is aiming to improve conditions for the 200.000 Danish wage-earners who carry out the same monotonous work every day. However, according to the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI), it is being done in an amateurish way.
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