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Karen Ellemann – Nordic through and through

Karen Ellemann – Nordic through and through

(Aug 22, 2023) The Nordic Council of Ministers’ new Secretary General takes on responsibility for the Nordic cooperation as challenges are piling up – on security policy, the environment and the Nordic model itself. But she is an incurable optimist and believes the Nordic vision can be achieved.

Scarpetta: The OECD has learned a lot from studying the Nordics

Scarpetta: The OECD has learned a lot from studying the Nordics

(Apr 27, 2023) Stefano Scarpetta is excited when he goes up to the podium at the start of the OECD and Nordic Council of Ministers conference in Reykjavik. "I don't know how you did it, but thank you for the fantastic northern lights that we got to experience last night!"

The Norwegian civil servant working for Sweden

The Norwegian civil servant working for Sweden

(Mar 23, 2023) In January, Norwegian Finn Ola Jølstad swapped his day job as a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion in Oslo for a job at the Swedish Ministry of Employment. His job exchange lasts six months and falls right in the middle of Sweden’s EU Presidency.

MEP Jytte Guteland: another Swedish climate champion

MEP Jytte Guteland: another Swedish climate champion

(Apr 25, 2022) After eight years as an MEP and chief negotiator for EU’s climate legislation, Social Democrat Jytte Guteland is ready to leave the European Parliament to run for a seat in the Swedish one.

Fredrik Karlström works hard to make Åland more diversified

Fredrik Karlström works hard to make Åland more diversified

(Dec 10, 2021) Fredrik Karlström has become a veteran of Nordic labour market cooperation. The Minister for Industry and Trade in Åland’s government pops up in pictures everywhere in the Nordic Labour Journal archives. The first was taken in 2012, where he poses with Nordic colleagues on the quayside in Longyearbyen in Svalbard.

Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson: Planned to be a sheep farmer, now Iceland's labour minister

Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson: Planned to be a sheep farmer, now Iceland's labour minister

(Dec 07, 2021) A new government in Iceland was announced on 28 November, over two months after the parliamentary elections. The new labour minister is Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson from the Left-Green Movement.

Hadia Tajik, a trade union-supporting labour minister

Hadia Tajik, a trade union-supporting labour minister

(Nov 16, 2021) Hadia Tajik, Norway's new Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion, is a strong defender of trade unions. She will be responsible for what the red-green coalition government calls a spring clean of the labour market.

Margrethe Vestager dares take the fight to the giants

Margrethe Vestager dares take the fight to the giants

(May 28, 2021) EU’s Danish Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager fights against the big ones bullying the little ones. It brings her respect at home and abroad.

From Faroese independence to Nordic cooperation

From Faroese independence to Nordic cooperation

(Feb 01, 2021) When she was younger, Kristina Háfoss was known as one of the Faroe Islands’ top competition swimmers. In recent years she has been best known for her work for Faroese independence, but now she is also working actively for increased Nordic cooperation.

Magdalena Nour: Raze barriers against international talent

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.

Susanna Gideonsson: We must defend the Swedish model

Susanna Gideonsson: We must defend the Swedish model

(Sep 08, 2020) Swedish LO’s new President, Susanna Gideonsson, has deep roots in the trade union movement. At 16 she started getting engaged in work against unfair conditions at work, and now she represents 1.4 million LO members across 14 unions. Her current main challenge is to protect the Swedish model against political interference in labour law reform.

Danish Presidency: The Nordic cooperation passed the Corona test

Danish Presidency: The Nordic cooperation passed the Corona test

(Sep 03, 2020) Closed borders, economic confusion in Nordic cooperation forums and hundreds of millions of kroner for environment and climate work. These are some of the issues on the agenda for Nordic Ministers for Cooperation when they meet face-to-face for the first time since before the pandemic.

Christer Holmlund: Teachers' psychological strain a theme for NLS

Christer Holmlund: Teachers' psychological strain a theme for NLS

(Jun 11, 2020) With the reopening of Nordic schools post-Corona, there needs to be more focus on teachers’ working conditions. They made a big digital leap with distance learning and this has been tiring, says Christer Holmlund, the new Secretary-General for NLS, the Nordic Teachers’ Union.

A testing time for Director of Denmark's labour market agency

A testing time for Director of Denmark's labour market agency

(May 15, 2020) As the top boss for the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment STAR, Maria Schack Vindum has been busy after Corona suspended large parts of the country’s employment policy, created mounting unemployment and cleared the way for new solutions.

Iceland’s unemployment soars fivefold

Iceland’s unemployment soars fivefold

(May 15, 2020) In just four weeks, unemployment in Iceland rose fivefold. At the end of February, 10,000 people had no jobs. By the end of March, the number was 50,000. This has never happened before, says Unnur Sverrisdóttir, head of Iceland’s Directorate of Labour VMST.

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