News — Nordic Labour Journal

Norway: Gender pay gap remains, but influence is slightly up

(Apr 12, 2019) The gender pay gap among full-time employees in Norway remains at 20 %. After adjusting for age, education, sector and several other factors, there is still a 13 % gender difference.

A shift in work-related crime – or just prettier facades?

(Apr 12, 2019) The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority has uncovered less work-related crime in 2018, even though more controls have been carried out compared to in previous years. Some point to improved cross-sector cooperation, while critics say inspections are of little use if they are not unannounced.

Iceland invites the ILO to the land of volcanoes and glaciers

(Mar 22, 2019) On the 4th and 5th of April, Iceland hosted the final out of four Nordic conferences ahead of the ILO’s centenary celebrations. The Future of Work conferences represent a very important forum not only for Iceland, but for the entire Nordic region, says Iceland’s Minister for Social Affairs and Children Ásmundur Einar Daðason.

Outgoing Secretary General: keep the Nordic focus

(Mar 15, 2019) The Nordic region and Nordic cooperation is held in high regard at home and abroad, so keep up the high levels of ambitions. That was the parting message for Nordic parliaments and governments from the Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers Dagfinn Høybråten, as he stepped down after six years today.

Lisbeth Dalgaard Svanholm aims to gather big and small employers

(Mar 06, 2019) While the Danish trade union movement has got a new main organisation, their counterparts, DA, have got a new female leader who aims to bring together some very different member companies.

Severe cuts to the Swedish Public Employment Service

(Feb 15, 2019) What does the labour market look like for unemployed employment service workers? The question is suddenly relevant for a lot of staff at the Swedish Public Employment Service. 4,500 of them were given their notice on the 30th of January this year.

Danish trade union movement gathers the troops

(Feb 11, 2019) A joint trade union confederation with all of the country's unions as members? Denmark took a big step in that direction on 1 January.

Statistics Sweden: new statistics on how different immigrant groups manage in the Nordics

(Dec 17, 2018) Statistics Sweden (SCB) and its Nordic opposites have begun producing comparable statistics on how immigrants manage in the labour market, divided into country of origin.

New PIAAC study coming up – to measure abilities among adults

(Dec 14, 2018) The knowledge gap between high and low skilled workers widens over the course of a working life. One way of bridging the gap is securing more knowledge about where the strength and weaknesses lie in lifelong learning. This is the reason for the second round of the OECD’s PIAAC study, which looks at literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills in adults.

Employers’ conditions in the shipping and aviation sectors provokes hot debate in the Nordic Council

(Nov 01, 2018) The Nordic Council is encouraging governments to work actively against social dumping in the shipping sector. But the Council does not want to initiate any coordination of Nordic aviation policies within the EU. These were the results after a hot debate in the labour market committee during the session in Oslo.

How can you create more jobs by improving conditions for startups in the Nordics?

(Oct 30, 2018) “Not much time has been spent in the political debate in the Nordic countries on how jobs actually are created. A lot of other issues have had more than an ample hearing. But job creation is crucial for how our Nordic welfare models develop,” says Idar Kreutzer. He has looked at how to secure risk capital for Nordic startups.

Creating a decent work environment for employees in the new economy

(Oct 15, 2018) How can the Swedish Work Environment Authority carry out inspections and promote satisfactory work environments for the self-employed, digital platform workers or those who are employed in other new forms of organising work? That is what the authority is trying to figure out in a two year-long project commissioned by the government.

New Swedish council to defend collective bargaining

(Oct 12, 2018) In light of the European Commission’s many recent legislative initiatives in the social policy field, the Swedish private sector social partners have joined forces to fight for their common interests on an EU level.

Disruption patrol alerts authorities of work-related crime

(Oct 09, 2018) Private operators outside of the public labour inspection system in both Norway and Sweden are gathering information on cowboy operators within the construction industry. The Nordic Labour Journal joined Vidar Sagmyr from the construction industry’s disruption patrol in Trondheim on an ordinary assignment. This time, he received no death threats.

Woman at the top in the Nordic Region

(Sep 07, 2018) Paula Lehtomäki from Finland becomes the new Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers. She was appointed on 5 September by the Nordic cooperation ministers under the leadership of Sweden and Margot Wallström. Lehtomäki begins her job in March 2019.