Labour Market

On the Suomenlinna island outside Helsinki, Nordic artists, culture workers and institutions meet as resources dwindle and working conditions get harder. Despite budget cuts, cooperation is growing, as is a shared conviction that culture is not a luxury but part of the Nordic region’s resilience. Suomenlinna’s role as a fortress is relevant again.

Laura Astrid Colstrup has chosen to forgo a permanent job, a pension scheme and unemployment insurance in favour of a life as a self-employed person with four sources of income and a working community for the self-employed.

Norwegian Drummer and improvisor Tollef Østvang never expected to find a permanent job as a musician. As a freelance jazz musician he has chosen artistic freedom and his own projects, but feels welfare schemes are poorly adapted to indepentend artists’ needs. Now, LO Selvstendig (LO Self-employed) seeks better systems for these types of jobs.

Training a support dog handler is about improving the human’s skills – not the dog’s. Behind the concept is a freelancer who has been making a living for more than 20 years from a life-long true passion: our four-legged friends. 

Sunniva Johanna Troll Imhof is at home on parental leave with her second child. Being a self-employed physiotherapist brings greater economic uncertainty than if she had been permanently employed.