In Focus
Not all customers are white men
It is women who decide over most home purchases and their buying power is growing. Yet most products are created with men in mind. This is one of the reasons why Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova’s has created a unique new program which focuses on norm-critical innovation.
The Nordics should “stop refusing to discuss a minimum wage”
Nordic countries should stop thinking a legally binding minimum wage for the EU would be tantamount to saying goodbye to the Nordic model. Learn from Norway, says the Council of Nordic Trade Unions and Danish labour market experts .
Minimum wage could be on ETUC congress agenda
Nearly all European countries have now introduced a statutory minimum wage. At the end of 2014 Germany introduced a minimum wage of €8.50 an hour. But the Nordic countries are sticking to their agreement model.
Norwegian minimum wage model spreading across trades
On 1 February parts of the collective agreement covering the Norwegian fishery industry were made universally applicable, meaning agreed wages now apply to the whole of the country. Two days later it was time for the agreement for electricians. Support for the Norwegian minimum wage model is growing.
Swedish Transport Union: minimum wage could stop social dumping
There is strong opposition to a statutory minimum wage in Sweden. But the parties in the transport trade have started talking about making collective agreements universally applicable. The reason: pay cuts and social dumping resulting from the freedom of movement.
Only far left wants minimum wage in Finland
Finland is one of the Nordic countries which has not had a public debate about a minimum wage. The Left Alliance (VF), which is the party furthest to the left in Finland, is the only political party which has called for a statutory minimum wage. In April’s general elections the party’s manifesto will also include a promised minimum hourly wage of €10 — around €1,600 a month.
Why own when you can rent? The sharing economy and working life
Uber, Netflix and Airbnb are names associated with the sharing economy — a term which tries to describe the rapid changes in the way we consume goods and services. We rent rather than own, we swap, share, borrow or give away. New technology allows for new kinds of transactions, which in turn influences working life.
Hotels threatened by the sharing economy
New digital services which bring sellers and buyers together are making inroads in traditional areas of business. Most successful of them all is American Airbnb which helps people rent out their apartments. The hotel industry in Finland is fighting back.
The sharing economy is changing the services market
Mow the neighbours lawn? Quickly get hold of a skilled handyman? More and more digital marketplaces are emerging in order to facilitate the link between those who offer and those who need services. There are many different solutions, and two of the market’s players predict that things are only just starting.
“Make the Nordic region a growth centre for the sharing economy”
The Nordic region can become a centre for the sharing economy, which would benefit all of society. But politicians are asleep at the wheel, thinks Charlotte Fischer from the Danish Social Liberal Party. She sits on the Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Congestion Commission and is a member of the regional council of The Capital Region of Denmark.
Challenge: gathering Europe in a joint vision for the work environment
25 percent of workers in the EU have a job which causes them psychosocial problems like stress, according to the fifth European working conditions survey. The results have been analysed in a report by Eurofound in cooperation with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. But measuring work environments is considerably harder than measuring unemployment.
Supermarket chain improves its psychological work environment
The Danish supermarket chain Netto has been nominated for this year’s Danish work environment award for improving its psychological work environment by preparing the group’s 10,000 mainly young employees in how to prevent and handle robberies and violent customers.
I follow safety instructions — they didn’t make them as a joke
For Mathias Schou Sørensen and many other young Danes, a supermarket job is their first step into working life and their first meeting with work environment challenges — of which young people get more than their fair share.
Patient-focused care improved staff’s work environment
When staff at the surgical ward number 6 at the Karlstad Central Hospital were allowed to spend more time on patients and less on administration, their work environment improved too. They recently won a major work environment award worth 50,000 Swedish kronor (€5,400) for their impressive efforts to improve their work environment.
Healthy organisations don’t emerge by accident
New Swedish research shows more than one in four young people believe their jobs will have a negative impact on their health. At the same time we are becoming increasingly interested in what makes us healthy at work.
Ignorance of nano particles a growing risk in the workplace
More and more people are exposed to nano particles at work, but few know which types of particles are present or how to handle them. The Nordic Labour Journal visited a Finnish company where safety is everything.
Fewer youths equals more jobs?
As the workforce ages and the number of young people of working age falls, their chance of finding a job increases. But it is still too early for politicians to sit back and relax. Powerful measures are needed to fight youth unemployment. One solution is to create more apprenticeships.
Youth guarantee rolls out across the EU
Finland and Austria are in the vanguard when the EU is developing new ways of supporting young people at risk of becoming unemployed. Finland’s youth guarantee means everyone will get a job, internship or training within three months, and the country’s long-term youth unemployment is the lowest in all of the EU.
Finnish forest industry keen on apprenticeships
An increasing number of young people find work in Finnish industry via apprenticeships. In recent years the forest industry has traded in its own traditional training schemes with other kinds of education — and the programmes are popular.
Denmark strengthens vocational education
Few young Danes are outside of the labour market. Improved vocational education should get even more of them into training and jobs.
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