These are just some of the issues that the Nordic labour and employment ministers will discuss with the EU Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla and representatives of Nordic employers and unions in Iceland on 10 November.

It is the first time in more than five years that the Nordic labour and employment ministers will have met with both employers and unions, and the meeting suggests that closer tripartite co-operation may be in the offing.

The meeting will take place in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Labour on 11 November.

Unemployment is soaring throughout Europe. Young people are particularly badly affected.

The economic crisis puts pressure on our competitiveness as well as on the public-sector finances. It also requires more co-ordinated action by individual states as well as international co-operation. Labour-market co-operation is very much about facilitating adaptability and employability.

"The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how Nordic employment policy can help to enhance skills so that they match the needs of the labour market. How can we improve the individual worker's chances of finding a good job and the employers' chances of recruiting the manpower they need in their own countries?" asks the Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security, Árni Páll Árnason.

The discussions will take place against the background of a new report: "Nordic competitiveness – from flexicurity to mobication" by Søren Kaj Andersen, University of Copenhagen and Ove Kaj Pedersen, Copenhagen Business School.

The report analyses systematic ways of facilitating mobility on and between labour markets by putting skills enhancement at the heart of employment policy.

The EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, will also take part in the meeting, where he will present the Union's: "New qualifications for new jobs."

It identifies a number of steps that the Commission will set in motion to balance supply and demand.

Both reports identify the importance of initiatives launched during an economic downturn not erecting barriers to addressing the long-term challenges facing the labour market.

Globalisation and demographic trends will increase competition for a shrinking labour force, which in the longer term threatens to undermine the Nordic welfare model unless action is taken now.

The discussions between the Nordic parties and the EU Commissioner will be followed up by a meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Labour on 11 November, which will focus on initiatives to combat rising youth unemployment.

Lars Djernæs
Phone +45 33960360
Email ldj@norden.org

Michael Funch
Phone +45 33960332
Email mifu@norden.org