News
Faroe Islands: big economic growth yet increasing poverty
Dec 16, 2019 The Faroe Islands are doing very well. But things are also going very badly. One survey shows the Faroes had the greatest economic growth in Europe last year. At the same time, the number of Faroese at risk of poverty rose from 9 to 10.7 %. “A worrying trend,” says trade union coordinator Sonja Jógvansdóttir.
News
Maria Mindhammar takes helm at Sweden's battered PES
Dec 12, 2019 On 5 December Maria Mindhammar was appointed the new Director-General of the Swedish Public Employment Service. It is a job she gladly goes to, while also calling the situation at the Public Employment Service “exceptionally challenging”.
Editorial
Fraud in the welfare state
Nov 27, 2019 The word fraud has been used a lot in the welfare debate in the Nordics this autumn. In Norway, the “NAV scandal” has been dominating the news. In Denmark, an employee at the National Board of Social Services is in court charged with embezzling more than 100 million Danish kroner, while unemployment statistics for Sweden have been compromised.
tema
Fundamental misinterpretation led to Norwegian legal scandal
Nov 27, 2019 It has been called Norway’s worst ever miscarriage of justice. Thousands of people were accused of cheating the benefits system when accepting unemployment allowance and other support while living abroad. It then turned out it was never illegal – as long as it happened within the EEA.
tema
Danish welfare agency wide open for fraudster
Nov 27, 2019 Should an employee get a lesser sentence if it is easy to steal from the employer? This issue is currently being debated in the criminal case brought against Danish Britta Nielsen, who stole more than 100 million kroner (over €13m) from her employer, the Danish National Board of Social Services. The money had been allocated to disadvantaged citizens.
tema
Sweden – more generous than what EU law demands
Nov 27, 2019 For many years, Swedish authorities considered it to be people’s right to take their so-called guaranteed pension (garantipension) with them if they moved abroad. Yet, a couple of years ago, the EU Court of Justice made it clear that Sweden was not at all obliged to pay the guaranteed pension to people living in other countries.
tema
The transnationals – when one country is not enough
Nov 27, 2019 “More and more people chose to be transnational. They don’t want to live in just one of two countries, but in both. This might not be a huge number of people, but they do represent a challenge for national welfare systems,” says Jørgen Carling. He has spent several years leading a research project looking at the phenomenon at Prio.
Portrait
A portrait of the richest of the rich in Finland
Nov 27, 2019 Who are the richest one in a thousand in Finland – the euro millionaires? How do they view themselves and other Finns? These issues are being explored in one of the most discussed books this autumn: Huipputuloiset – or something like The Top Earners in English.
News
A gender change in the cleaning profession
Nov 27, 2019 Cleaning is about to become a male-dominated occupation. It used to be nearly exclusively women who worked the mop. Now men, especially those with an immigrant background, are taking over according to a report from the Oslo Institute for Social Research.
News
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Climate
Nordic governments: Everyone must join the fight against climate change
Nov 06, 2019 Fighting climate change is no longer a choice, but an absolute necessity which means our countries, our citizens and our industries must make great changes. That was the message from the Nordic prime ministers at the Nordic Council’s session in Stockholm.
Editorial
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Metoo
The multi-faceted fight against sexual harassment
Oct 18, 2019 This October it is two years since the American actor Alyssa Milano sent out the first tweet with the hashtag #metoo. That set off a reaction that spread from Twitter to the streets and into the corridors of power. Suddenly sexualised violence and harassment was being discussed in a new way. But what has really changed in these three years?
tema
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Metoo
Angela Davis in Reykjavik: We must see the structural powers that support the violence
Oct 18, 2019 “If we don’t challenge the structures in society, we risk getting into a situation where we end up fighting for women’s rights to be as violent as men,” warned Angela Davis when she addressed the large #metoo conference in Reykjavik on 17-19 September.
Portrait
Eva Nordmark's task: to liberalise Sweden’s employment act and reform the employment service
Oct 18, 2019 When former TCO President Eva Nordmark accepted to replace Ylva Johansson as Sweden’s Minister for Employment, she also accepted to follow up on proposals she had been critical of in the past, like the liberalisation of the employment act.
News
Money can't buy you happiness in Iceland
Oct 18, 2019 Families need decent wages in order to afford all the essentials. But high wages do not necessarily make families happy. There is no direct correlation between money and happiness, unless the family has real economic problems. The key to happiness is mainly spending time with family and friends.
tema
The male role in Finland is changing
Oct 18, 2019 One ended up in prison for refusing to do his military service. Another did his military service and ended up working for the armed forces. Today both are on the board of the new feminist association for men, saying they have a lot to learn from the Finnish women’s movement.
tema