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Polish immigrants in Norway – with only one foot in the labour market
Polish labour immigrants travelled to Norway rather than to Sweden or Denmark, which were closer, when Poland joined the EU in 2004. Most did not intend to stay, but after some years their families joined them in Norway. Because of short work contracts, the immigrants are in a kind of limbo. They have a job,…
5 minutes
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Everybody wants to know about refugees’ skills
While the Nordic countries tightened border controls and made it harder for refugees to seek asylum, they also changed their policies to help refugees get quicker access to the labour market. In Norway the asylum seekers can now register their skills by themselves.
3 minutes
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Labour market inclusion more important than learning Finnish
Why should it take seven years for immigrants to get nothing more than low-paid work, when there are expensive labour market measures in place? When can they get a well-paid job in the private sector after just one year!
8 minutes
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International campaign needed to fight ruthless staffing agencies
Two new international agreements trying to improve conditions for workers in the construction and textile industries, as well as oil workers’ more traditional but still difficult trade union fight. Those were the issues up for debate during a Fafo seminar in Oslo on globalisation, precarious work and trust.
5 minutes
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Palestinian, woman, dyslexic – and successful businessperson in Iceland
Fida Abu Libdeh arrived in Iceland aged 16. “I didn’t even understand whether my teacher was trying to teach me Icelandic or Danish. It wasn’t until many years later I learnt I had dyslexia,” she says.
6 minutes
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Old people and politics
The Faroe Islands want to tempt women to move back home. There is a female deficit. Like in many more remote areas in the Nordic region, there is a demographic imbalance. Young people are drawn to urban areas, and the older grow older still. Can migrants fill the holes in the labour market as the…
3 minutes -
Refugees bring new life to Finnish Punkalaidun, known for its coffins
The road to Punkalaidun is beautiful, but treacherously winding and slippery in the wintertime. This is far out into the countryside. The municipality is more than 150 kilometres north-west of Helsinki.
12 minutes
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“The welfare model is vulnerable to high levels of immigration of adults with low skills levels.”
There was great concern in the Nordic countries a few years ago that they would be hit by an age shock. The fear was an increasing lack of labour as a result of falling numbers of young and middle aged people. But out of the four main demographic drivers, only one developed as expected: Populations…
6 minutes
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Newcomers one of the solutions to the need for labour
Newcomers can represent an important contribution to the labour markets in the ageing Nordic countries if they learn the language and are given the opportunity to settle into the labour market, especially in more remote areas which for decades have been loosing many of their employable young to the cities.
6 minutes -
Municipalities could be saved by newcomers
By 2030 Sweden’s countryside could have lost one third of its employable population compared to the year 2000, resulting in lost tax revenues, increased healthcare needs and a lack of labour. Many municipalities now put their hopes in the successful integration of newcomers. Krokom municipality is one of them.
5 minutes