News
OECD on Finland: Easy to get another job
Dec 15, 2016 Unemployment is high at over eight percent. But it is relatively easy to get another equivalent job. That is often forgotten in Finland. Thank the level of education for that! This is how leading daily Helsingin Sanomat comments the OECD’s fresh country report.
News
Nordic countries positive to EU social pillar – but want to set wages themselves
Dec 13, 2016 We urge that the proposed European Pillar of Social Rights takes into account the special features of our labour markets and respects the role played by the social partners in the Nordic Region. That is what the Nordic countries’ labour ministers write in a joint declaration to the European Commission.
Comments
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Nov 2016
Everything is connected – also the Nordic region
Nov 16, 2016 Nordic cooperation for 2017 has been given title: A Europe in transition needs a strong Nordic Region. So what is needed to build and promote the region? More sharing of knowledge? Greater focus on the Nordic welfare model? Greater focus on which values that the Nordics choose to follow? Is a more authoritarian labour market a choice the Nordics will make?
tema
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Nov 2016
Towards a more authoritarian labour market – without freedom of expression?
Nov 16, 2016 “This is not only about their working life. It is about their lives,” says Dag Yngve Dahle, who has written a book on the freedom of expression in working life together with Maria Amelie, called ‘Moderne munnkurv’, or Modern muzzle. They look at what happens to people who have been accused of a breach of loyalty to their employer.
News
New Swedish legislation protects whistleblowers
Nov 16, 2016 A new law will be introduced in Sweden this January to improve the protection of whistleblowers, strengthening the employees’ situation. However, they will still be left with much responsibility when it comes to deciding which wrongdoings are serious enough to afford them protection.
tema
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Nov 2016
Collective decision making important, but...
Nov 16, 2016 “All this research on collective decision making is important, but it has its limitations. I think far too much has been exaggerated. There is an extremely good relationship between the workers’ representatives and the company leadership,” exclaims Knut E. Sunde, director of industrial policy at the Federation of Norwegian Industries.
News
Are the Nordic welfare states prepared for crises?
Nov 16, 2016 Do the Nordics spend too little money on Nordic welfare? Yes, believes Iceland’s Minister for Nordic Cooperation Eygló Harðardóttir. She sees great opportunities for more welfare cooperation, and supports a proposed Nordic welfare forum and a system for common welfare indicators, to be better prepared for future crises.
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.
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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