In Focus
Demand for more female board members as EU’s patience runs out
EU Commissioner Viviane Reding’s patience has ran out. European companies have failed to improve board room gender equality to a satisfactory degree. The European parliament has already voted to introduce quotas to secure at least 30 percent women board members by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020.
Active old age and solidarity between generations
Never before has so many lived for so long and been so healthy into such old age. In a few years there will be far more centenarians and people who will live for 20 to 30 years past their retirement age. Is Europe ready?
Older people to be encouraged to work for longer
More people must be encouraged to work into older age and we should also be prepared to retrain or change professions or careers during our working lives. That was the message from Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt a few days before the ‘Northern Future Forum’ gathered nine European leaders in Stockholm.
Myths dominate attitudes to older people in the workplace
The notion that older people take jobs from the young simply isn’t true. Axel Börsch-Supan, a director at the German Max Planck Institute, debunks the myths surrounding older people in work.
Flexitime key to a longer working life
People are interested in working for longer as long as they are allowed to adapt their jobs to fit their abilities. A new survey shows flexible work solutions increases interest in working for longer. In Finland the research is supported by real life experience.
Half of older Icelanders are still working
Older Icelanders enjoy working and do so for longer than other older people in the Nordic region, the Baltics and the UK. Being active in the labour market is highly valued among the Icelandic.
Young, middle-aged or old?
How old do you have to be to be considered old? What constitutes as old varies a lot between different European countries. That is also true for how countries react to the demographic development: Generally very few people think it is necessary to increase the retirement age during the coming two decades, according to the ‘Special Eurobarometer 378 Active Ageing’.
Just how many older workers are there? And do they want to work more?
When the EU made 2012 the year for active ageing and solidarity between generations, Eurostat was tasked with producing relevant statistics. “It could become commonplace for people to move into retirement while still having one or both of their parents alive”, is one of the thought-provoking conclusions.
Nordic ministers want a more open working life
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.
Disability a hindrance also to the labour market
Despite all ambitious attempts at getting people with disabilities into the Finnish labour market the sad truth is that they are being discriminated against. Now the government is making new efforts to give them a better chance.
Working life’s hidden power
It is difficult for people with disabilities in Sweden to find jobs, and unemployment is considerably higher among people in this group compared to the rest of the labour force. Faced with a shrinking workforce, there’s a need to get as many as possible into work. The fight to secure the right to work for people with disabilities has become a way to work for social sustainability.
Focus on the working ability of people with disabilities
A new Danish campaign aims to get more people with disabilities into work by getting job centres, businesses and people with disabilities themselves to look for opportunities rather than obstacles.
Getting closer to members could secure union survival
Nordic trade unions must get closer to their members and provide a better service at a lower price. If not the Nordic labour market model will die, warn labour market experts.
”Change or die” - mobilising and modernising unions
From 2007 to 2011 Swedish trade unions lost 273,000 members. Worst hit was the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the lowest numbers of union membership was found among young people and people of foreign heritage. But unions are not passively watching the fall in membership numbers - on the contrary, they are mobilising to reach old and new members.
How do the unions handle the new debate on salary gaps?
Over the past decade the number of working days lost due to labour conflicts has been very low. Illegal industrial action has nearly disappeared altogether. Meanwhile the pay gap has widened considerably. But now there is fresh disquiet. How do unions deal with these new times?
Welfare state and social partners’ cooperation
Cooperation with the social partners is central when politicians in Norway and Denmark sit down to write new political programmes - be it Denmark’s new government programme or the programme for Norway’s 2012 presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Transport facilities crucial to mining
Nordic politicians are waking up to the possibilities for the mining industry. On 12 October foreign ministers in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council met in the LKAB mine in Kiruna. Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre (right below) and Sweden’s Carl Bildt arrived together on the ore train from Narvik.
Greenland’s red hot labour market
Flemming Enequist stands at the stern of a Targa 37 with 600 horse powers ploughing him through the Godthåp fjord on his way to London Mining’s base camp 150 kilometres north-east of Greenland’s capital Nuuk. He works for the local authority and his job is to tempt young Greenlanders to find work in the mining industry.
Mining equipment: a Nordic niche
Mining equipment manufacturers have been surfing on a wave of high metal prices. With increasing needs for metals in countries like China, India and Brazil, sales and employment figures keep rising.
Welfare model put to the test
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?
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