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Scandinavia's foreign-origin population has steadily increased over the past six decades. Migration flows into the region have been linked to societal phenomena such as growing labour demands, family reunification and the acceptance of refugees fleeing wars and political conflicts. Whereas earlier migration streams were generally expected to integrate relatively easily, concerns about the current streams are high on the political agenda. This report is a cross-country research into selected key features of population change and the integration of population groups with roots in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey and Vietnam in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The research has sought to achieve three objectives. The first is to determine how and when the groups came to the three Scandinavian countries and how they have since developed. The second is to analyze two aspects of the groups' integration, namely their participation in education and their participation in the labour market. And the final objective is to provide a brief overview of the groups' situation in each of the three countries with regards to economic development, immigration history and policy development.

The objective of this study was to find out how legislation and legal practices concerning labour inspections differ in the Nordic countries. To accomplish this, individual eports on each Nordic country were made. Three areas concerning labour inspection were investigated in each report: An examination on how labour inspection is administered in order to gain an insight into how labour inspection is governed in each country. Secondly, the scope of legislation concerning labour inspection was examined to establish whether the Labour Inspection Authorities in the Nordic countries are expected to enforce only legislation concerning occupational safety and health, working conditions in general, or whether the Authorities have been additionally entrusted other duties, e.g. enforcement with the terms and conditions of employment of workers. Furthermore, it was also examined to whom the legislation applies and the content of the provisions of the legislation. Finally, the follow-up systems of the labour inspection legislation were examined.

This report sums up the developments in labour migration from the member countries to the Nordic Region since EU enlargement in 2004, the consequences for the labour markets in both the Nordic Region and in the countries of origin, the main features of the political initiatives and adaptation strategies adopted by the Nordic countries, and the most important challenges that the Nordic countries will face in this area in the future. The report points out that Western Europe and the Nordic Region have experienced significant and increasing mobility of labour from the new member countries since 1 May 2004. It concludes that greater mobility, particularly from Poland and the Baltic countries, has been a contributory factor to higher growth and lower inflation in the Nordic countries than would otherwise have been possible in a period of prolonged economic prosperity and increasing labour shortages. It also states that the challenges in the Nordic countries have primarily been associated with the growth in in-service mobility and postings away from home. In addition, the report confirms quite significant emigration of workers from Poland and the Baltic countries since 2004, which has led to shortages of labour in those countries. It concludes that even though employment levels have risen significantly, especially in the Baltic countries, the main challenge for these countries will continue to be how to further increase domestic employment levels. This report constitutes the final product of the expert group on EU expansion set up by EK-A in 2004, the mandate for which expired on 1 December 2007.

Achieving and maintaining high employment rates is becoming increasingly important. Governments seek to mobilise new sub-groups of population into employment. However, the Nordic employment rates are already high when compared internationally and historically. The question arises: where should the increase in employment come from? This report uses statistical comparisons to pin-point the main possible sources of employment potential in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. These countries are both similar and different enough in the sense that comparisons can shed new light on the issue. The four countries are compared to the "best pupil in class" in order to point out the possible potential. For instance, Finnish women work much longer hours than women in the three other countries. This indicates that increasing women's working time is a potential source of new employment for them. Employment trends are compared especially in relation to a number of themes. They include working time and part-time employment, unemployment, early exit, very late exit, sickness absence, and disability. Throughout the report, the countries are studied and compared from the perspective of increasing total employment. Some relevant policy indications and the possibilities of mobilising the existing employment potential are also discussed.

The primary objectives of Nordic cooperation in the labour market and the working environment in 2005–2008 are to accelerate the process of change and act as a forum for debate about evelopments outside the region. Nordic co-operation can be divided into two main areas: labour policy in the Nordic region, and the Nordic region's interaction with the EU and other international bodies.

Gender equality has been named as one of the normative foundations of Nordic wel- fare states. This is reflected in how, year after year, Nordic states rank among the most gender egalitarian countries in the world (see, e.g., World Economic Forum 2020). In Nordic countries, the state has been, and continues to be, a central actor in shaping women's citizenship, labor market opportunities, and caring roles. Especially publicly funded welfare services and policies that facilitate the reconciliation of work and care have played a major part in advancing women's labor market participation (see, e.g., Bergquist et al. 1999; Borchorst & Siim 2002; Ellingsæter & Leira 2006; Siim & Stoltz 2015). The institutional framework of Nordic welfare state policies has been central to what has been called the 'social democratic public service route' (Walby 2004). One of the important building blocks of gender equality has been the aim of making policies in Nordic countries 'women-friendly'. More than 30 years ago, Helga Hernes (1987) identified the Nordic countries as 'potentially women-friendly societies'. She characterized women-friendly societies as those that 'would not force harder choices on women than on men' (ibid., 15), particularly in relation to work and care. Hernes also envisaged that woman-friendliness should be achieved without increasing other forms of inequality, such as class or ethnicity-based inequalities among different groups of women. However, achieving gender equality in working life and the sort of women- friendliness that Hernes envisaged at the societal level has in many ways also proved to be challenging, as the ties between the state and gender equality goals are more complex than what they might seem at first glance. Gender disparities have proven persistent also within the Nordic context. When we issued a call for this special issue, we were interested in various forms of gendered labor market (dis)advantage in Nordic countries. Furthermore, we asked how gender segregation, welfare state ...

A consortium led by the University of Warwick's Institute for Employment Research, in partnership with University of Jyväskylä's Finnish Institute for Educational Research and with support from EY, was commissioned by European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion to undertake a study on lifelong guidance (LLG) policy and practice in the EU focusing on trends, challenges and opportunities. The study was launched at a time when LLG policies and practices are viewed as crucial parts of current policy initiatives around validation of learning and the Pillar of Social Rights (features 1 and 4). The aim was to: Look at how these policies and practices could be promoted by the Commission providing an evidence base for priority-setting; Improve organisational knowledge and support dialogue with stakeholders on LLG and, more widely, skills strategies; and Identify potential, relevant EU interventions in the area of LLG. The study has a forward-looking aspect and provides proposals and directions for the new Commission after 2020. ; nonPeerReviewed

This report is a synthesis of examples of, recommendations to and solution proposals for future efforts to improve well-functioning borderless labour markets. The report synthesises the results of the cooperation on exchange of experiences and solution proposals, which the parties behind the GOLIN project (Cross-border Regional Optimal Solutions in Scandinavia) have executed in 2003-2005, supported financially by the Nordic Council of Ministers via the Regional Sector, the Labour Market Sector and the Strategic Pool. The main activities include three seminars and a final conference. GOLIN shall be regarded as both a catalogue of ideas and a process. During the final debate on the final seminar of the project in March 2005, attention was paid to the learning gained from the GOLIN project: that it is necessary to start from practice and not always merely from rules and regulations that the nature of bureaucracy is slow and reactive and therefore must be challenged actively, creatively and specifically that we must enhance our ability to make the problems political by means of strategic lobby work

Second corrected edition. The Nordic countries have a close co-operation in the field of occupational safety and health (OSH). The objective of this study is to compare OSH policies in the Nordic countries in relation to the Nordic co-operation programme and strategies of the EU as well. The study was conducted through a qualitative content analysis of the strategies or corresponding programmes. The policies were analysed from the point of view of different themes and dimensions. The study shows that the strategies or programmes emphasise quite different viewpoints. The state has a different role in these programmes, which results in different cultures regarding the OSH policy practices and their development. The report shows interesting differences in the strategic approaches in the Nordic countries. Some of these differences have not been clearly shown and explained before.

For the last two decades, Finnish universities have faced the implementation of new systems of control and undergone dramatic changes that have worsened academic working conditions – such as corporatisation and budget cuts. This article explores Finnish academics' experiences of university reforms with a special focus on the consequences it has had in terms of organisational socio-dynamics. We adapt Glynos and Howarth's logics of critical explanation and apply this theoretical framework to analyse the interviews of academics who, against their own will, did not have their contracts renewed. This approach describes, explains, and criticises the logics – which are social, political and fantasmatic – behind the existence, continuation, and transformation of practices that are very real. Our research findings suggest that there are situations in which experiences of opaque management may occur at university. Academics often found the decision-making processes to be unpredictable and ambiguous, leading to a precarious working atmosphere. Combining the logics approach with micro-level data analysis, we developed the concept of arbitrary management, offering new perspectives for understanding the mediation between social practices and structural reforms. This micro-political analysis provides a new take on how ideologies operate at university in an era of academic capitalism. ; peerReviewed

The Nordic Economic Policy Review – NEPR – is published by the Nordic Council of Ministers and addresses policy issues in a way that is useful for informed non-specialists as well as for professional economists. All articles are commissioned from leading professional economists and are subject to peer review prior to publication. The Nordic Economic Policy Review is published twice a year. The journal is distributed free of charge to members of the Nordic economic associations. The easiest way of subscribing to the NEPR is therefore to become a member of one of these associations, i.e., Denmark: Nationaløkonomisk Forening Finland: Taloustieteellinen Yhdistys Norway: Samfunnsøkonomene Sweden: Nationalekonomiska Föreningen For institutional subscriptions, please contact nepr@iies.su.se Content: Introduction - Lars Calmfors and Bertil Holmlund Youth unemployment in Europe and the United States: David N.F. Bell and David G. Blanchflower. Comment by Oskar Nordström Skans Employment consequences of employment protection legislation - Per Skedinger. Comment by Assar Lindbeck Business cycle contingent unemployment insurance - Torben M. Andersen and Michael Svarer. Comment by Erik Höglin Is short-time work a good method to keep unemployment down? - Pierre Cahuc and Stéphane Carcillo. Comment by Ann-Sofie Kolm What active labor market policy works in a recession? - Anders Forslund, Peter Fredriksson and Johan Vikström. Comment by Clas Olsson Regular education as a tool of counter-cyclical employment policy - Christopher Pissarides. Comment by Björn Öckert

This study analyzes the emotional and aesthetic labor of Finnish military officers. It examines the kinds of valuations officers attach to the notion of an ideal soldier. The meanings that officers give to these ideals are explored within the wider framework of post-Fordist new work. The ideal soldier is traditionally considered to be physically capable and strong, rational, and in control—features culturally coded as masculine. An analysis of 108 military officers' writings and 12 interviews showed that while the traditional masculine ideal still exists, a vast variety of valuations are related to new work. The notion of the new ideal worker includes attributes, such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and social skills, which are culturally coded as feminine qualities. These feminine valuations may work to female officers' advantage. However, despite fractures in traditional masculine ideals, there are still some deeply rooted gender stereotypes that work to female officers' disadvantage. ; peerReviewed

The workplace is a highly meaningful context for intercultural communication where persons who come from different countries, identify with different ethnic groups or speak different languages get to collaborate and develop relationships with one another. Needless to say, interpersonal communication in the workplace has always been a primary area of interest for intercultural communication research. Early scholarship focused on the preparation of U.S. military personnel, diplomats, business people, and missionaries for overseas assignments. However, the increasing pluralization of the social landscape has bolstered research endeavors. These days, the scope of intercultural workplace communication inquiry comprises everyday face-to-face and technology-mediated interactions in encounters, relationships, groups, and teams in a variety of working arrangements, and across a range of public and private sector organizations worldwide. The scholarship also draws on the organizational approaches of antidiscrimination and diversity management that emerged in the United States and have subsequently been exported to and reinterpreted in workplaces around the world. Researchers have looked into such workplace communication processes and phenomena as social categorization, stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, conflict and its management, organizational satisfaction and identification, socialization, supportive communication, interpersonal relationship development and informal interaction, negotiation of shared workplace culture, knowledge sharing, decision-making, learning and innovation, or leadership and management. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the ways languages are used in interactions at work. ; peerReviewed

Finding employment has been a challenge for young adults in recent years. This is not only due to high unemployment rates, but also because entering working life is more complicated than before. It is no longer just a question of credentials and skills. 'Employability' depends on investments in personal capacities: labour market demands in recruitment exceed the capacity of employees' bodies and minds. This article asks what demands for increasing one's employability young adults (aged 18–30) experience in relation to their education and working life and how they respond to these ideas, especially to the idea of modifying their minds and bodies—habitus—in order to increase their employability. What demands are they complying with or resisting? How and why are they doing so? The article draws on interviews with 40 young Finnish women and men. The data analysis reveals that employability ideals emphasising affective and bodily capacities or dispositions are not shared by everyone. However, modifying one's attitude or demeanour seems to be less threatening for young adults than does changing one's appearance or body. Changes to one's body are associated with rules and codes dictated from above, whereas changing one's mindset is usually conceived of as self-development; thus, it is not seen as contrary to authenticity. Identification with a line of work is an important factor in accepting demands on one's body or demeanour. It should be asked if the importance of authenticity for young adults entering working life should be taken into consideration in governmental youth and employment policies. ; peerReviewed

Teachers are frontline actors in actualising educational innovations. In some contexts, teachers' professional agency is undervalued. This study investigated teachers' agency and its related workplace affordances in Hong Kong, which features a centralised-decentralisation education governance system, and a hierarchical work culture. The study was based on 21 semi-structured interviews with teachers, and employed a deductive thematic analysis. Agency enactment was categorised into 1) pedagogical agency within classrooms, and 2) relational agency in the professional community. The factors contributing to workplace affordances were grouped as pertaining to 1) the collegial community, 2) school leadership, 3) access to resources, and 4) availability of time, space, and job stability. Agency-supportive leadership and a favourable collegial environment significantly facilitated teachers' agentic actions. Teachers did not explicitly resist but implemented emotionally meaningless order in a 'work-to-rule' manner. The study contributes to professional agency research as applied to a particular political, regional, and socio-cultural context. ; peerReviewed