In Focus
“Sweden was somewhere you could make money”
Early autumn 1954, and Gösta Helsing is 17, one of nine siblings living at home in a small village in Vörå in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. Post-war Finland is poor from paying reparations to Russia and there are few jobs. The small farm cannot sustain all nine siblings. Many neighbours, friends and relatives are moving to Sweden.
An interest in engines took him to Sweden - but it didn’t pay enough
Per Billington moved from Norway in 1984 to work at Volvo’s research department in Gothenburg for one and a half years. It shaped his entire career. This is where he learned ‘ordning och reda’ — Swedish ‘proper order’ — and he learned to love diesel engines.
Always Norwegian at heart
This August Norwegian badminton player Erik Rundle has lived in Denmark for longer than he lived in Norway, and he doubts he will ever return for more than holidays and to defend his badminton titles.
Longed for Icelandic nature — became head of an aluminium plant
When US aluminium giant Alcoa built a smelting plant in Iceland in the 2000s, Danish Janne Sigurðsson quit her job in Denmark and moved to Iceland. She was a stay-at-home mother for a while. Now she heads Alcoa’s largest aluminium smelting plant in Europe.
“Swede moving to Norway, what do I need to know?”
On 13 December 2010 Charlotte Lundell started working as Brand Manager at Orkla Confectionery & Snacks. The first thing she did when she got the job was to google: “Swede moving to Norway, what do I need to know?” At the time she was one of 80,000 Swedes working in Norway. In 2013 she is one of 90,000.
Robots can save jobs
Robots and increased automation can save many jobs from disappearing. At the same time many low paid jobs disappear when machines take over certain tasks. The NLJ looks at what the new technological revolution means.
Denmark supercharges welfare technology
The Danish government wants the public sector to be obliged to use welfare technology in nursing homes and hospitals to a much larger degree. There has been some progress, but the breakthrough has not yet come.
“I've become more independent"
Aarhus Municipality is paving the way in introducing welfare technology. For 67 year old Svend Erik Christensen this means he can manage much more on his own — including going to the toilet.
The modern industry worker: a new technology operator
“There’s no smoke, nobody seems to be around, what is it you’re doing?” A question often put by foreign visitors to the Director of Herøya Industrial Park. Change, improved efficiency and new technology has made an old industry competitive in the global market, and turned workers into knowledgeable operators.
Robot journalism pushes the boundaries for what’s possible
Robots are taking over tasks only humans used to master, like writing articles and taking pictures. They relentlessly gather information or photograph the same subject hundreds of times.
3D technology breakthrough pushing up product development tempo
3D printers have been in the spotlight for a long time. They represent technology which now looks like it is having its breakthrough. This is not only about printers becoming cheap enough to buy for private individuals. It is about a completely new production technology which represents the opposite of the way industries produce products today.
New production methods could revolutionise entire industries
Norwegian Thinfilm has just developed a revolutionary technology, printing electronics straight onto a plastic film at their plant in Swedish Linköping. It makes it possible to develop intelligent labels which can tell whether a product is being stored at the right temperature, and much more.
Norway lifts Nordic gender equality
For the first time ever a Nordic country has reached full gender equality in the Nordic Labour Journal’s gender equality barometer. The barometer reflects the gender balance in 24 different positions of power in the Nordic societies. After a change of government last autumn, Norway has now reached 22 points. 20 points is needed for full gender equality.
Gender equality at the top influences the entire organisation
“If we want to be a sustainable company we need mixed leadership groups on all levels. We have no credibility if we have only men in management. We also see how it has a positive influence on the entire organisation and that it has become more fun to work,” says Anette Segercrantz, head of human resources at Storebrand, which comprises the Swedish pensions provider and consultancy firm SPP.
Manu Sareen: gender equality is key to integration
Denmark is about to face the lack of gender equality in ethnic minority communities head on. The Minister for Children, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs, Manu Sareen, sees young immigrants beginning to rise up against the unequal treatment of girls and boys. He encourages everyone to join in.
The threat of quotas
Norway and Iceland have already introduced them and now boardroom gender quotas are rolling out across Europe.
Italy chooses women in times of crisis
Half of Italy’s new government ministers are women. What impact will that have on a country with Europe’s lowest female employment rate? Prime Minister Matteo Renzi promises change. He wants immediate reforms and to get the economy going. Yet so far the boardroom quota legislation seems to be having the greatest impact on gender equality.
40 years of Nordic gender equality cooperation
There are two ways to compare different countries’ gender equality policies. You could look at the number of women reaching power or you could look at current policies. The two don’t necessarily tell the same story.
A Minister visits the Office of Opportunity and the Place of Opportunity
“The important thing is to create a feeling of “us” for everyone who lives in Sweden and who sees their future to be here. If you want to live here you should also have a future here, but then there are issues which must be sorted out; like a job, language and security,” says Sweden’s Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag.
Jobs are key to all Nordic countries’ integration policies
All of the Nordic countries are attractive targets for refugees and labour migrants alike. But there are major differences both between which groups arrive and how they are received. Finland and Iceland have always stood out, but now the differences are increasing at a faster rate also between Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
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