Photo: Anette Andersson

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Can the Nordic region stay top of the trust league?

World Values Survey puts Nordic countries top of the league when it comes to trust between people. In China leaders are astonished at the level of trust shown by Swedish leaders to their workers. Co-operation between the parties to the labour market is one of the Nordic Model's cornerstones. You can see it every day in work places, in negotiations over salary levels and working agreements between the main organisations and in the tripartite co-operation with the authorities when shaping policies. What happens to this complicated construction if the trust is challenged? Some in Denmark now say the parties' co-operation is threatened by political dictates. We look at why people in Iceland in protest elected a comedian as mayor of Reykjavik, and we see how in Finland researchers claim the welfare society does not include everyone. How does migration and poor integration effect trust in society?

Aug 31, 2010 |

In Södertälje 40 percent of the population has foreign heritage, and the challenge is to hold the local society together.

- If we could give everyone a job, this would be a fantastic municipality, says Anders Lago chairman of the municipal executive board in Södertälje (picture above).

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Latest news
Curtain fall for the Laval case (Aug 31, 2010) Sweden's Supreme Court has refused to reverse the Swedish Labour Court's judgement in the Laval case. Now a labour law expert says the state should pay the considerable compensation which trade unions have been ordered to pay.
Healthy, competent citizens: the Nordic plan for global competitiveness (Aug 31, 2010) Giant pan-Nordic drive for health and well-being takes off.
Female boardrooms quotas for Iceland (Jul 01, 2010) Iceland follows Norway's lead and introduces legislation forcing companies to fill their boardrooms with at least 40 percent women. But before the law comes into effect in 2013 gender equality has taken a small step back.
EU spotlight on Nordic poverty (Jul 01, 2010) The European Union's Year for Combating Poverty 2010 touches a sore spot in Sweden and Finland. Poverty and social exclusion is on the rise while politicians maintain their welfare policies are solid enough to face the challenges. Poverty experts agree that in this debate the EU Commission plays the progressive force to the Nordic governments' conservative one.
Swedish unions want annulment of Laval judgement (May 18, 2010) The Swedish Supreme Court must annul the judgment of the Swedish Labour Court in the Laval case! That's what the Swedish Building Workers' Union and the Swedish Electricians' Union demand. They say the supreme court made serious mistakes when sentencing them to pay record damages after the twist over the building of a school in Vaxholm (see The Laval case, act III – Sweden's Labour Court rules union must pay high damages)
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Recent articles
Finland's Anni Sinnemäki: passionate about an individually tailored welfare system (Aug 31, 2010) Portrait Finland's Minister of Labour wants to make individuals visible. Young people should not be seen as a uniform group but as separate people with different needs. In Finland a lot of time has been spent analysing each person's situation, and as a result, she says, the state can offer more rational measures tailored to the individual's needs.
Red cabinet member - impatient in the long run (Jun 30, 2010) Portrait Audun Lysbakken swears that it is he - and not the media - who will set the agenda for his ministry's work. That means working on long-term, preventative measures to avoid people becoming social outsiders - results of which will not show up on statistics for another 10 to 15 years.
National pride gave Icelanders tunnel-vision (May 24, 2010) Comments Icelanders help each other out in bad times. But when it comes to a man-made crisis they don't really know how to act.
Hanne Bjurstrøm: Norway's new Minister of Labour with a vision (May 05, 2010) Portrait Norway's new Minister of Labour, Hanne Bjurstrøm, wants to sort out the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, find efficient systems to deal with social dumping and help more people with reduced work capacity. Her vision: to help anyone who is able to do some work get out of being passive recipients of state support. To do that she needs the support of companies.
Laval case brings new Swedish law (Apr 11, 2010) Analysis After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing the Swedish Parliament passed legislation on 24 March to reflect the Court of Justice of the European Union's judgement in the much-debated Laval case.
Inger Støjberg - fighting unemployment with cross-party cooperation (Mar 02, 2010) Portrait Just as the economic crisis hit Denmark in April 2009, Inger Støjberg took up her position as Minister of Employment and Gender Equality. She was already known as a vocal spokeswoman for the Danish Liberal Party. Now she is the promoter of broad agreements with the opposition.
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Anni Sinnemäki front page Fighting for the right to choose

The Finnish government has introduced legislation allowing unemployed people to choose their own education without having to forego their unemployment benefit.

"For me this is a symbol of what I always strive to highlight: the system must be tailored towards the individual. This is not always the case in our welfare system," says Minister of Labour Anni Sinnemäki.

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"There would be far more people without a job in Norway today if we had not led an active policy fighting the fluctuations." 

 

Audun Lysbakken, Norway's Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion

 

Unemployment

per cent of workforce:

Denmark 4.1

July

Finland 7.5

July

Norway 3.5

June

Iceland 8.7

2nd quarter 2010

Sweden 8.0

July

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