News

  • Iceland’s plan for bridging the pay gap

    Iceland’s government and the social partners have reached a new gender pay gap deal. In the next two years they aim to reduce the gap and to agree on a project plan with joint solutions and measures. Their goal is equal pay for equal work. The public sector should set an example for other employers.

    4 minutes
  • Norway renegotiates tri-partite inclusive workplace agreement

    ‘Everyone’ was there when Norway’s Ministry of Labour staged its annual conference on the inclusive workplace agreement. It was also the first public meeting between the new Director General at the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise and the President of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions.

    5 minutes
    Norway renegotiates tri-partite inclusive workplace agreement
  • Iceland’s new labour market policy focuses on young men

    Iceland is developing a labour market policy for the period leading up to 2020, the first such policy the country has ever had. There are more people with low education in Iceland than elsewhere in Europe. Experts say the most important thing now is to develop a strategy for educating young men.

    3 minutes
    Iceland’s new labour market policy focuses on young men
  • Nordic seniors want longer working lives

    Nordic women and men work for longer than their European colleagues, and the retirement age is increasing. But there are also differences between the Nordic countries. In later years Denmark has considered Sweden and Norway to be good examples when it comes to employment among the older generation. So why the differences, and why do…

    6 minutes
  • How to increase equality in Norway

    From next year Norway increases parental leave to 49 weeks. Yet months of daddy leave and nursery places for all children do not automatically make for a less gender segregated labour market nor does it make the male dominance in top jobs disappear, warns Professor Hege Skjeie, who has been heading the largest report on…

    3 minutes
    How to increase equality in Norway
  • Unemployment benefit cuts undermine the Danish model

    Danish trade unions warn cuts to unemployment benefits are undermining the Danish labour market model.

    2 minutes
  • Nordic worry over EU internal market package

    The European Commission’s proposal for how to apply the EU directive on the posting of workers must not limit our powers to control foreign companies! That was the unified message from government officials, authority representatives, the social partners and researchers from all Nordic countries when they met in Oslo to discuss how to deal with…

    6 minutes
  • New drive to get young unemployed Danes into education and jobs

    The Danish government launches another youth package to offer education to nearly 100,000 young people on benefits – many of whom have no further education at all. Meanwhile the effects of previous youth packages are beginning to materialise.

    4 minutes
  • The right use of space improves office work

    Disturbing sounds like high volume conversations are often an environmental problem in workplaces, and it can lead to loss of concentration and more mistakes being made. Now new research out of Finland shows it is possible to reduce such inconveniences through flexible space concepts.

    3 minutes
    The right use of space improves office work
  • Unions in retreat across Europe

    Trade unions have lost members and influence over the past 20 years in almost all European countries. High unemployment, an increasingly deregulated labour market and weaker safety nets makes many workers weary of putting their demands forwards and to become union members. Unions in several countries also criticise what they see as a relatively self-congratulatory…

    7 minutes