Inclusion
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Articles on inclusion.
Nordic ministers want a more open working life
(Dec 12, 2011) How do you open up the labour market for more people with disabilities? It is a hot topic. Despite crisis and unemployment taking hold, labour ministers keep their strategic focus on mobilising more people to join working life. They highlight the long-term need for labour and that all have the right to be fully part of working and social life. The challenge is to get working life partners to back their initiatives.
New Norwegian drive to find jobs for people with impaired work abilities
(Oct 12, 2011) Organisations for people with disabilities along with the social partners didn’t hold back their praise when Norway’s Minister for Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm and Minister for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Audun Lysbakken presented their ‘Job strategy for people with impaired work ability‘ during the presentation of Norway’s 2012 budget on 6 October.
Welfare model put to the test
(Sep 07, 2011) The Nordic countries worked their way through the 2008 financial crisis. The welfare model largely shared by the five countries proved effective. Now the world economy is on shaky ground yet again. Can the Nordic model still be a third way between the more brutal Anglo-Saxon model and the lack of state financial control seen in many Mediterranean countries?
Riots highlight Manchester’s unemployed underclass
(Sep 07, 2011) What made hundreds of youths run amok in Manchester and other UK cities in August? Debate has been fierce in the weeks following riots that cost five lives and millions of Pounds in damages. The political right blames a moral collapse, the left blames budget cuts and social deprivation. In Manchester the riots have led to a renewed focus on the large and growing gap between the rich and poor.
Language skills - the key that doesn't always fit
(May 10, 2011) Few statements enjoy such broad political agreement in the Nordic countries as this: language skills are key to both integration and working life. All five countries offer immigrants several hundreds of hours of free language courses, but they have chosen different models and put different demands on students.
Language training boosts self-confidence for Norway's Coke staff
(May 10, 2011) Coca-Cola Enterprises Norway started a successful language training programme in the workplace after a visit to another food and drinks company - the dairy group Tine.
Norwegian food industries offer in-house language courses
(May 10, 2011) Knowing a country's language is important to get a job. But language is also getting more and more important in order to hold on to that job as new technology is introduced, employers demand written documentation and linguistic skills become an increasingly important part of the daily tasks at work.
Free workplace language training in Denmark
(May 10, 2011) All foreigners with permanent residency in Denmark are entitled to Danish language lessons. Many language courses are held in the workplace, and businesses see the benefits of in-house language training.
English - Denmark's future professional language
(May 10, 2011) To get a job in Denmark you must learn Danish, but in the long term both private and public employers must accept English as the professional language, says Foreningen Nydansker (the association for the integration of immigrants into the Danish labour market), which represents 130 small and larger Danish businesses.
Job-related Swedish language training boosts employment
(May 10, 2011) Several larger municipalities in Sweden are making Swedish lessons for immigrants more and more targeted to the labour market. Language lessons are mixed with practical learning and the language taught is tailored to specific occupations. Örebro municipality west of Stockholm represents one example where vocational education is mixed with language lessons and where there is strong cooperation between the municipality, businesses and the employment service.
Finland demands strong language skills
(May 10, 2011) Finnish can be a difficult language to learn. Many immigrants have found out the hard way. To get a job you need very good spoken and written Finnish. It is crucial to invest in language skills in order to fully take part in Finnish society.
Work is top priority in integration of Sweden's new arrivals
(Feb 09, 2011) As soon as newly arrived refugees are granted permission to stay in Sweden the process of getting them established in society begins. The goal is to cut the time it takes to get settled into the labour market. Those who want to can use personal guides who'll help them with work and integration.
Coaches compete for the unemployed Swedes
(Dec 03, 2010) In December 2008 the Swedish government charged the Swedish Public Employment Service with procuring coaches worth 1.1bn Kronor (€12m) for the year 2009. This created a fast growing market for coaching and today more than 900 businesses have a contract with the employment service. The contracts don't guarantee any customers, however, and the businesses offering coaches must do their own marketing.
Finland's Anni Sinnemäki: passionate about an individually tailored welfare system
(Aug 31, 2010) 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.
Sweden's Södertälje: a public-private solution to immigrant challenges
(Aug 31, 2010) Södertälje in Sweden has more than 40 percent immigrants of foreign heritage. For some years the municipality received more refugees from war-ravaged Iraq than the USA and Canada combined, so it's had its share of challenges when it comes to jobs, accommodation and traditional solutions. The result: extensive co-operation between municipality and businesses, with input from trade unions.
Norwegian tripartite agreement on sick leave
(Mar 02, 2010) Norway's government and the social partners have reached a new agreement aimed at reducing sick leave. The agreement covers the next four years and prolongs the 2001 Inclusive Workplace Agreement.
The Nordic region tightens sick leave rules
(Feb 09, 2010) One of the pillars of Nordic welfare systems is the right to sickness pay. But should employees enjoy the same pay whether or not they are at work? Who decides how long a person can be off sick? What kind of contact should the worker maintain with the employer? These questions are fueling a heated debate in several Nordic countries. Nordic Labour Journal takes a closer look at new measures and rules being tightened.
Towards a common EU integration policy
(Jan 10, 2010) Integration policy is a national responsibility within the EU, but the Swedish presidency has made an effort to make it easier to compare just how well member states integrate new arrivals.
Helping new arrivals realise their dreams
(Jan 08, 2010) "I have been thinking lately that I have experience many others lack, which allows me some degree of authority to speak on what works and what doesn't when it comes to integration policy," says Nyamko Sabuni, Sweden's Minister for Integration and Gender Equality.
Labour ministers up the fight to prevent a lost generation
(Nov 26, 2009) How do you fight youth unemployment? That was the theme when Nordic labour ministers met in Reykjavik in November. One in five European youths is unemployed. There is fear of a lost generation. The Nordic countries focus on education and help on an individual level to help young people into working life.
