
EU minimum wage directive: last stand for the Nordics?
Dec 28, 2020 2021 looks set to be the year when the issue of statutory minimum wages in Europe will be settled. The debate has lasted a long time and opinions are divided, but on 28 October 2020, the EU Commission finally presented a proposed directive which will be processed by the European Council and the EU Parliament.
Editorial
Even Santa Claus is hit by the Corona crisis
Dec 10, 2020 The Nordic model is not past its best-before date. On the contrary, it is needed and it has shown its strength during the Corona pandemic. But it faces new challenges, which call for innovative welfare system finance solutions when new forms of employment and new technology disrupt entire sectors.
Jon Erik Dølvik: Stored demand could help create jobs
Dec 10, 2020 The largest research project ever to be financed by the employment ministers at the Nordic Council of Ministers was about to conclude just as the Corona pandemic hit. How will the pandemic and the economic crisis in its wake impact on the advice the researchers will give on the future of work?
17 types of employment – and the rest
Dec 10, 2020 The Nordics have not become a region of freelancers, but there is a growing multitude of different forms of labour. The Corona pandemic has also made life for people with non-standard work even more precarious, confirmed experts at a Nordic conference on the future of work.
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Finland
Elves, dogs and reindeer suffer as tourists disappear from Arctic Circle
Dec 10, 2020 There seems to be more visitors to the post office than anywhere else in Rovaniemi’s Santa Claus Village – despite the risk of infection. Auli Sihvo has worked there for 20 years and seen how Santa has improved Lapland's commercial pulling-power.
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Finland
War destitution created Lapland's tourism boom. It began here.
Dec 10, 2020 The tourism industry in Finnish Lapland has a lot to thank Eleanor Roosevelt for. The presidential widow’s visit to Rovaniemi and the Arctic Circle set in motion an international Lapland industry. This year is the 70th anniversary of her visit.
Covid threat to Nordic “julebord” tradition and restaurant survival
Dec 10, 2020 Julebord is a Christmas office party on steroids and a major tradition in Norway and Denmark. This season is already a crisis for restaurants and food providers say enterprise confederations. But at least there will probably be fewer #metoo situations.
Magdalena Nour: Raze barriers against international talent
Dec 10, 2020 Sweden lacks doctors, nurses, teachers and IT engineers, yet foreign-born job seekers struggle to access the Swedish labour market. If they make it as far as an interview, the experience often makes them feel surprise and frustration.
Sweden’s century-long relationship with the ILO
Dec 10, 2020 Sweden has had a relationship with the ILO for 100 years. Yet the country never ratified the labour organisation’s first convention. There have been tensions behind the scenes from time to time – like when the conventions have clashed with the Swedish model for collective agreements.
A “Nordic”, independent Scotland post-Brexit?
Dec 10, 2020 The last time the Scots went to the polls to vote for or against independence from the United Kingdom, there was speculation whether an independent Scotland would seek to link up with the Nordic region. Next year things might get serious.
News
East meets Nordics in EU road transport show-down
Dec 10, 2020 The Nordic countries are celebrating that the EU has finally approved rules aimed at fighting social dumping in the international road transport sector. Meanwhile, a number of low-pay countries in the east have asked the EU Court of Justice to annul them.
News
Migration to the OECD nearly halved during Corona pandemic
Nov 11, 2020 As a result of the Corona pandemic, the number of migrants being granted visas and residence permits for an OECD country has fallen dramatically. During the first six months of 2020, the number fell by 46% compared to the same period last year, according to the OECD’s International Migration Outlook 2020.