International
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Theme: The hunt for manpower is on
Will there be enough manpower when economies grow year on year while populations are ageing? No, say many employers in the Nordic countries. Their warning is that lack of manpower will jeopardise economic growth and innovation. Governments too are on the alert. Welfare states are dependent on enough workers to keep ticking over.
1 minute -
UK’s Eastern European salvation or damnation
A day trip to Britain’s famous Blackpool seaside resort left me wondering whether I’d taken a wrong turning and ended up in Poland. In every chip shop, every café, every gaming arcade and at every amusement ride I was served by a Marek, an Ewa or a Dariuz.
3 minutes -
EU enlargement two years on: what challenges to the Nordic labour market?
The growing mobility of labour from EU-8 after 1 May 2004 has contributed to increasing production and employment, curbing of prices and interest rates, and extending the room of manoeuvre in economic policies in the Nordic countries.
6 minutes -
Packing your bags is hard to do
Two nights a week, over twenty foreigners like me gather in a classroom at an Oslo language school, determined to improve our faltering Norwegian.
3 minutes -
Foreign workers in Iceland — living on the fringe of society
One out of four men living in Eastern Iceland is a foreign citizen. The majority of the foreigners come from Poland, work in large-scale industry and live isolated from the Icelandic population.
3 minutes -
Labour shortage chokes mobility
Finland has decided to abolish the transition rules for labour from new EU member states from 1 May this year. Norway, Denmark and Iceland have still not decided, while Sweden opened her borders as early as 2004.
3 minutes -
Lack of manpower – a problem for all
Sergo Teider-Lastikka says it makes no real difference that his countrymen will soon be free to seek work in Finland, when the country opens her border to workers from the new EU member states. He has not seen much of the limitations which have been in place for the past two years either.
3 minutes -
Saved? – At least for now
For the past few months General Motors (GM) has been on the rampage in Europe. The attacks were directed at the three German Opel plants in Rüsselsheim, Bochum and Kaiserslautern, plus Swedish Saab in Trollhättan. 12 000 jobs are going, the German wages are lowered, working hours are increased – and the only guarantee is…
4 minutes -
Øresund has something to teach Europe
Peter Kay Mortensen thinks the rest of Europe could learn from the experiences of the Øresund region in Denmark and Sweden. He is chairman of the Greater Copenhagen Section of the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions, and one of the driving forces behind the Øresund co-operation.
6 minutes -
Mobility after the enlargement – too much or too little?
Ten months after the at least partial opening of the borders for workers from the new EU member states, it is still too early to see whether it has been a positive or negative move for the Nordic countries. Some feel predictions of social dumping have come true. Others are surprised so few have made…
6 minutes




