Globalization, restructuring and competition are key words often used to describe the development of the Norwegian labour market since the 1990s. A central question is whether the financial crisis and labour immigration have weakened the collective institutions in Norway. The book, edited by Harald Dale-Olsen, has contributions from the Fafo-researchers Jon Erik Dølvik, Tove Midtsundstad and Kristine Nergaard. It is written in Norwegian and published by Gyldendal.

The labor movement has been a focus of power in the majority of western lands for a century. In Scandinavia, unions and social democratic parties put their stamp to a large extent on developments. Today’s welfare state can be seen as the result of the conquest by labor unions of important bases of power after the war. This is the subject of an article by Kristine Nergaard, published in Samtiden 1-2015.

The Norwegian government wants to change the law of holiday peace and quiet. But what are the effects from Sunday-open shops on the labour market? At this seminar Bård Jordfald presents a new paper about work capacity in Sunday-open shops.

Despite calls from host countries and the United Nations for better monitoring, existing knowledge on children’s participation in armed groups and armed forces in Syria remains scattered. This report by Tone Sommerfelt (pictured) and Mark B. Taylor considers child recruitment to the war in Syria from the refugee populations in Jordan based on interviews with international and Jordanian officials, as well as Jordanian citizens and Syrian refugees. The report highlights some of the dilemmas and political, economic and social sensitivities facing those seeking to help Syrian children refugees. The report echoes the call for more systematic monitoring as the basis for providing services that enhance protection, engagement and policing.

NordMod 2030 is a Nordic research project analysing developments of the past 25 years and identifying the challenges that the Nordic countries will face in the years through 2030. * The NordMod website

The labour inspectorates in the Nordic countries have different roles, strategies and tools in the fight against social dumping. In this project, we will elaborate on how the labour inspectorates deal with inspections and monitoring of foreign firms and posted workers. We propose studies in two high risk sectors: the construction industry and the transport sector. Line Eldring (picture) is the project-leader, and will carry it out together with Anne Mette Ødegård.