Since the start in 1985, Nordjobb has
given young people between 18 and 28 the chance to work in another
Nordic country. It has expanded the experience through various cultural
activities and the togetherness which is created between Nordic
workers, contributing to strengthening the open Nordic labour
market.
Nordjobb is mainly financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers,
Föreningarna Norden, participating employers and national labour
authorities. Since the start, 21,000 Nordic youths have found summer
jobs thanks to Nordjobb.
Yet so far neither those finding work through Nordjobb nor the
youths who move countries on their own accord have come from a pool of
unemployed people. A mapping of Nordic cross-border commuters showed
only 1.4 percent of Swedish youths who moved to Denmark and Norway were
on some kind of unemployment benefit.
This summer Nordjobb has tried to also help youths who are
unemployed to benefit from the open Nordic labour market. Together with
the public employment service and the Swedish municipality of
Söderhamn, 300 kilometres north of Stockholm, Nordjobb is giving 80
youths the chance to travel to Oslo and look for work. Before they go
they receive a four week course and they get free accommodation for the
first few weeks in Norway. After that they must stand on their own two
feet.
This is one of the projects which should be included in a data bank
of good youth employment projects which the Nordic Centre for Welfare
and Social Issues has been commissioned to establish. The report ‘Youth
on the edge’ highlights one of the biggest challenges: young people who
don’t have work and who are not in any kind of education. That group
now represents 5 to 10 percent of all Nordic 15 to 24 year olds.
There are big differences between the Nordic countries when it comes
to how youth unemployment is being fought politically. Denmark is
perhaps the country with the most comprehensive and intensive youth
policy. Yet youth unemployment has risen steadily there too, trebling
in four years. Negotiations between the social partners for a ‘youth
initiative’ have broken down, reports Marie Preisler from Copenhagen,
but the government still promises action.
We wish all of Nordic Labour Journal’s readers a very good
summer!
