Insight
Why did Iceland do so well?
Nov 16, 2016 From the crisis hit in 2008 until 2011 Iceland experienced the greatest income redistribution in Europe. It is common to think that cuts are needed to deal with economic crises. Iceland is an example of the opposite. Welfare works better than cuts, claim the researchers behind the report Welfare consequences of financial crises.
News
Profit limit on welfare services triggers strong emotions in Sweden
Nov 16, 2016 When the so-called welfare inquiry was presented on 8 November, proposing a limit to profits from welfare services, there was immediate disagreement. The centre-right parties want to remove a seven percent limit, while the Left Party is pushing the government to take even tougher action against profit.
News
The posting of workers directive: EU Commission sticks to its guns
Nov 16, 2016 Should posted workers have the right to the same wages as workers in the country to which they are posted? Yes, says the European Commission, sticking to its proposal for changes to the posting of workers directive, despite fierce resistance from Eastern European member states.
forskning
How do you integrate last year’s refugees into the labour market?
Nov 16, 2016 Refugees represent a different type of group compared to labour immigrants. The integrating of last year’s record number of refugees to the Nordic region will therefore probably take longer than for labour immigrants. There is also a risk that labour market integration runs into problems after five to ten years, warned researches at a Nordic seminar held in Oslo.
tema
New barometer measures the level of collective decision making in Norway
Nov 16, 2016 People’s perceived level of influence over their own work situation has plummeted in Norway. In seven years the number of people saying they have a lot of influence has fallen from 89 percent to 77 percent. Imported leadership models get the blame.
News
Social Democrats nearly wiped out in Iceland’s election
Nov 07, 2016 The Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) was the great looser in Iceland’s parliamentary elections, together with the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn). The Social Democratic Alliance was nearly wiped out, retaining only three MPs. The President has now invited the leader of the Independence Party to form a government.
News
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NC 2016
Åland’s Britt Lundberg and Norway's Erna Solberg sharpen Nordic cooperation in 2017
Nov 07, 2016 Removing border obstacles in the Nordic region is one of my priorities, proclaimed Britt Lundberg from Åland when she was elected the 2017 President of the Nordic Council during the Council’s Copenhagen session on 3 November. Border obstacles remain a core task for Nordic cooperation. The Norwegian Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers will continue to make it a priority in 2017.
News
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NC 2016
The Nordic Council wants to simplify border obstacles
Nov 06, 2016 The refugee crisis engaged the participants at the Nordic Council’s session in Copenhagen. Border controls introduced one year ago between Sweden and Denmark run contrary to the open Nordic labour market. A joint Nordic control at the border between Germany and Denmark is one suggested solution for easing the problems faced by Öresund commuters.
News
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NC 2016
Jari Lindström must answer for labour, equality and migration at the Nordic Council of Ministers
Nov 05, 2016 “Refreshing! Interesting!,” says Finland’s Minister Justice and Employment Jari Lindström. During the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers he is the one who answers the Nordic parliamentarians on the Council on labour issues.
In focus
Joint decision making and freedom of expression in the Nordics
Nov 02, 2016 As Sweden celebrated 250 years of freedom of the press, freedom of speech in the workplace is becoming increasingly repressed. In Norway the number of people who feel they have a major say in their own work situation has fallen by 12 percentage points, according to a new barometer carried out by six trade unions. In Sweden whistleblowers will be given more protection.
Editorial
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Oct 2016
The Nordic region – not cheaper, but smarter?
Oct 14, 2016 Smart solutions are often digital. Digitalisation is central to how society develops and it affects our lives in completely new ways. How does this development work in practice and how is the Nordic region contributing? There are several questions: Can the future become too smart? Do we need to pose more questions? Discuss more?
tema
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Oct 2016
Cycling into the future
Oct 14, 2016 There are great digital ambitions in the Nordic region: “Sweden will be a world leader in exploiting the opportunities of digitalisation”. Danish businesses will be “among the best in Europe when it comes to using IT”. But despite the grand words, there is also a worry that the Nordic region is lagging behind countries like the USA and China.
tema
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Oct 2016
Digital revolution in the nursing home
Oct 14, 2016 At the Solbjerg nursing home, new digital solutions have freed up more time for employees to spend with the residents, and this is just the first phase in a digital revolution. In ten years from now, all of the home’s offices will be gone, predicts the nursing home’s coordinator.
tema
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Oct 2016
Youths monitored – voluntarily – by 2000 sensors
Oct 14, 2016 There is much talk about digitalisation and smart cities, but it is high time we posed some critical questions around how technology is being used, thinks Malin Granath. In early October she defended her thesis on the subject at the University of Linköping.
tema
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Oct 2016
Securing Danish welfare through digitalisation
Oct 14, 2016 Municipalities, regions and the central Danish government authority will explore new digital opportunities while maintaining citizens’ experience of the public arena as an accessible partner. Many public sector institutions are already well underway.
tema
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Oct 2016
Bus drivers – a dying occupation as Finland goes for digitalised transport?
Oct 14, 2016 Finnish commuters are facing a very different journey to work in the future. Many transport sector jobs can disappear, or at least change. New traffic legislation aims to make transport services more flexible, based on the sharing economy and call control. And the self-driving robot buses are just around the corner.
tema
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Oct 2016
Joint Finnish-Swedish project develops businesses in the archipelago
Oct 14, 2016 The three year long project starts in October. It will develop small businesses in the Finnish and Swedish archipelago, across borders and disciplines. The aim is to create new businesses, new knowledge and new clusters of cooperation, where digital opportunities play an important role.
Portrait