In Focus
How private investors could make money from integrating immigrants in Finland
Finland is the first Nordic country to adopt the model where private investments are being used for social programmes. So-called Social Impact Bonds, or SIBs, also help private investors fund employment programmes for immigrants. If the private players manage to do better than the public sector, they will be rewarded.
No Isolation – creating new jobs to cover ancient needs
There is a reindustrialisation taking place in the middle of Oslo. Three young people have started their own business, making products as well-designed as anything coming out of Apple.
Blueye Robotics: The people's underwater drone bringing knowledge about our oceans
“Something happened to me when I went from collecting shells on the beach to finding more and more plastic and rubbish,” says Christine Spiten. She is one of four entrepreneurs who set up Blueye Robotics in 2015.
Anniken Hauglie at the Nordic council of ministers - changing focus on working environments
A changing labour market means new demands and challenges for the labour market's parties, politicians and society as a whole. This formed the backdrop when Anniken Hauglie hosted a conversation during the Nordic labour ministers' meeting in Oslo recently. The opening theme was how working environments influence productivity.
The future of work is central in new Nordic cooperation programme
A new cooperation programme, a comprehensive Nordic project on the future of work, a turn in the thinking around working life, and increased focus on integration. These were all issues highlighted by Norway’s Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Anniken Hauglie at the end of the 2017 Norwegian Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Joint Nordic project on the future of work
The Nordic ministers of labour have launched a comprehensive research project led by the Norwegian research foundation FAFO, studying how Nordic working life might look like in 2030. The knowledge resulting from the research will be used for further cooperation on the future of work in the working life sector.
Strong numbers for the Nordic labour market
The Nordic labour markets remain strong and unemployment is at its lowest level for the past three years in all of the Nordic countries. The numbers vary from 2.9 to 8.6 percent, but four of the five countries expect unemployment to fall further, according to the Nordic Economic Outlook 2017.
How can the EU’s social pillar be turned into reality?
The EU summit in Gothenburg was a success for the Swedish hosts, but what will the social pillar mean for Europe’s citizens?
The people and trade unions take EU to task over the social pillar
With a mix of slogans from the trade union movement, cinnamon rolls and sweets, the Swedish government, led by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, tries to present the EU from a different perspective. During the social summit in Gothenburg the social partners were literally sitting around the same table as prime ministers and EU Commissioners.
Employers: EU’s social pillar threatens the Nordic model
Nordic employers fear the EU’s new social pillar could undermine the Nordic model for the labour market. They intend to defend the model tooth-and-nail. That fight will be necessary, predicts a Danish labour market researcher.
Norway launches initiative against work-related crime during EU summit
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg seized the moment at the EU summit on social rights. She launched an offensive against work-related crime. Norway offers to work with an EU country to develop a more efficient control system.
The Faroese's tense relationship to the EU
50,000 people live in the Faroe Islands. There are 500 people in the EU. But do the Faroese want to be members in the big club and cooperate? The answer is a bit like the wind blowing across the stormy islands – it goes in all directions. Everyone wants closer cooperation, yet what that means depends on who you ask.
Workplaces must take the ageing workforce into account
When the workforce ages, workplaces face new challenges. This is particularly true for occupations where physical work makes up nearly all of the working day, according to Maria Albin, the keynote speaker at a European high-level conference on the working environment to be held in Bilbao in November.
From soot to sun – the long fight against occupational disease
Has the 250 years’ fight against occupational disease come to its end? Today’s risk factors are not soot, radon or asbestos, says the EU work safety agency. The top risk, is in fact ordinary sunlight.
First step towards a coalition for safety and health at work
Fresh global statistics from the ILO shows both workplace accidents and work-related disease with fatal consequences increased during the 2010s. This could explain why Finland’s September initiative to make good on all lofty declarations on improved working environments and health got such an enthusiastic welcome around the world.
“Only the labour market knows which skills are needed”
Swedish employers are in desperate need of people to fill positions within many different occupations. Meanwhile, more than 340,000 people are registered with the employment service. The problem is that the job seekers’ knowledge often does not match the needs of the employer.
Fitness industry seeks millennium-old skills – and knowledge of how to become bootylicious
More than four million Nordic citizens are members of gyms like Sats Elixia. As a result, the demand for skilled instructors is considerable. We joined one student of theology, one accountant and one brand expert in their spinning, yoga and shape classes.
How Sats Elixia works to secure the right competency
Competency is a moving target, since the knowledge needed to manage a job always changes. In the fitness and exercise industry this is doubly true. Not only does one trend replace another. Competency also often means knowing the right movements and how to make people move.
How do you motivate adult Danes to retrain?
The Danish adult and continuing education system is being reorganised in order to get more Danes to choose to take part in continuing training. One in three say they are not interested.
Older colleagues’ experience needed as the 80’s generation take over the Viking ferries
Viking Line is facing a real challenge. The largest age group onboard their Baltic Sea passenger ferries is 50 to 59 year olds. When they retire, a big chunk of competence disappears. The company has decided to treat this as a challenge and not a problem.
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