The future of work
Major changes in technology, economic contexts, workforces, and the institutions of work have come in ebb and flow since well before the first industrial revolution in the 18th century. Yet, many argue that the changes we are currently facing are different, and that the rise of digitalized production will entirely transform our ways and views of work.
In this collaborative project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, researchers from the five Nordic countries will study how the ongoing transformations of production and labour markets associated with, amongst other, digitalization, demographic change, and new forms of employment will influence the future of work in the Nordic countries.
Through action and policy oriented studies and dialogue with stakeholders, the objective is to enhance research-based knowledge dissemination, experience exchange, and mutual learning across the Nordic boundaries.
Intermediary results from the project will feed into Nordic debates on how to contribute to the Future of Work Agenda that is to be adopted at the ILO’s centenary anniversary in 2019.
The project is conducted by a team of more than 30 Nordic scholars from universities and research institutes in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The project started late 2017 and will be completed by a synthesis report in 2020.
The project consists of seven "pillars" (see navigation box or download flyer.
All researchers
Project leaders: Jon Erik Dølvik, Kristin Alsos, Kristin Jesnes, Fafo
Denmark/Danmark
Anna Ilsøe, FAOS/University of Copenhagen
Trine P. Larsen, FAOS/University of Copenhagen
Otto M. Poulsen, National Research Center on Work Environment, NFA
Anne Helene Garde, National Research Center on Work Environment, NFA
Kathrine Sørensen, National Research Center on Work Environment, NFA
Stine Rasmussen, Aalborg University
Per K. Madsen, Aalborg University
Natalie V. Munkholm, Aarhus University
Finland
Antti Saloniemi, University of Tampere
Marjo Ylhäinen, University of Eastern Finland
Tuomo Alosoini, University of Tampere/Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, FIOH
Paul Jonker-Hoffrén, University of Tampere
Juoko Nätti, University of Tampere
Satu Ojala, University of Tampere
Pasi Pyöriä, University of Tampere
Tiina Saari, University of Tampere
Iceland/Island
Katrín Olafsdottír, Reykjavik University
Arney Einarsdóttir, University of Iceland
Kolbeinn Stefánsson, Statistics Iceland
Dagny Aradóttir Pind, BSRB
Norway/Norge
Kristin Alsos, Fafo
Jon Erik Dølvik, Fafo
Kristin Jesnes, Fafo
Kristine Nergaard, Fafo
Johan Røed Steen, Fafo
Sigurd Martin Nordli Oppegaard, Fafo
Jan Olav Christensen, National Institute of Occupational Health, STAMI
Liv Bakke Finne, National Institute of Occupational Health, STAMI
Morten Birkeland Nielsen, National Institute of Occupational Health, STAMI
Jolien Vleeshouwers, National Institute of Occupational Health, STAMI
Marianne J. Hotvedt, University of Oslo
Sweden/Sverige
Tomas Berglund, Gothenburg University
Bertil Rolandsson, Gothenburg University
Anna Hedenus, Gothenburg University
Annamaria Westregård, University of Lund
News from the project
News
The Nordic labor ministers and representatives from trade unions and employer organisations met to discuss the conclusions of the project's final report on June 2. Arbeidslivetinorden.org wrote a summary of the presentation and debate (in Swedish)
The project's finalizing report is published: Kristin Alsos og Jon Erik Dølvik (ed.): The future of work in the Nordic countries: Opportunities and challenges for the Nordic working life models, May 2021
Interview with Jon Erik Dølvik at Norden.org (in Swedish): Forskare varnar för en delad arbetsmarknad: ”Den nordiska modellen behöver förstärkas”, 7 May 2021
Project publication, final report pillar 5: Christensen, Bakke Finne, Kristiansen: The future of the Nordic psychosocial work environment:: Implications for occupational health, February 2021
Project publication, pilar II: Digital Transformations of Traditional Work in the Nordic Countries, December 2020
Interview in Norwegian Aftenposten and E24: Jon Erik Dølvik about digitalisation (pay wall), November 2020
Danish Ministry of Employment hosted a conference on Nordic Future of Work in Copenhagen 26 November 2020 under the auspices of the Danish chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers. At the conference, the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research presented the final conclusions from the Nordic research project. Watch a recording of the conference on Youtube.
At the conference, the FAFO Institute for Labour and Social Research will present the final conclusions from the Nordic research projec
Mange av prosjektets konklusjoner ble presentert og debattert på en egen online-konferanse, 26. november 2020.
Project publication, pilar VI: The future of Nordic labour law: Facing the challenges of changing labour relations, October 2020
Norden.org explain the themes of the report «Platform work in the Nordic models: Issues, cases and responses» as well as the covid-19 releated questions which will be explored in detain in a Fafo seminar June 23rd, June 3 2020
Fafo researcher Sigurd M. Nordli Oppegaard has co-written a chronicle (in Norwegian about «the dual crisis faced by gig-workers» in Manifest tidsskrift, 15 May 2020
Kristin Alsos about expected "mega trends" hitting our labour markets at the government's seminar series «Fremtidens arbeidsliv», 23. oktober 2019
Kristin Jesnes interviewed for Podcast NRK Radio Krig og fred, 17 October 2019
Kristin Jesnes interviewed in Transportarbetaren.se, 3 October 2019
Forskere får 6 millioner til kortlægning af digitalt platformsarbejde, Faos 3 October 2019
Kristin Jesnes interviewed in NRK Nyheter, 27 September 2019
Kristin Jesnes interviewed in NRK nyhetsettermiddag, 27 September 2019
Special issue on Precarious Work in the Nordics in Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, edited by Anna Ilsøe, Trine Pernille Larsen, Stine Rasmussen
Kristin Jesnes interviewed on Shifter, 20. september 2019
Fafo-breakfast about the strike among Foodora-employees. The pink strike #Rosastreiken. Watch the recording in Fafo.tv. 20. september 2019
Island bjuder in ILO till vulkanernas och glaciärernas land. 6 March 2019
Uber in the Nordic countries. NfoW Brief 1
Measuring online labour. NfoW Brief 2
Collective agreements for platform workers. NfoW Brief 3
Atypical labour markets in the Nordics: Troubled waters under the still surface? NfoW Brief 4
Atypical labour markets in Denmark. NfoW Brief 5
Atypical labour markets in Sweden. NfoW Brief 6
Atypical labour markets in Norway. NfoW Brief 7
Atypical labour markets in Iceland. NfoW Brief 8
Atypical labour markets in Finland. NfoW Brief 9
Labour law in the future of work. Introduction paper. NfoW WP 1
Changes in the occupational structure of Nordic employment: Upgrading or polarization? NfoW WP 2
Digitalization in Nordic manufacturing: Some case-study illustrations. NfoW WP 3
New ILO-report: Work for a brighter future. Global Commission on the Future of Work. 22 January 2019
New report from pillar 1: The Nordic future of work: drivers, institutions and politics
Learn more
Final reports
- Pillar I: Jon Erik Dølvik & Johan Røed Steen: The Nordic future of work: Drivers, institutions, and politics. TemaNord 2018:555.
- Pillar II: Bertil Rolandsson (ed.): Digital Transformations of Traditional Work in the Nordic Countries, desember 2020
- Pillar III: Anna Ilsøe and Trine Pernille Larsen (ed): Non-standard work in the Nordics: Troubled waters under the still surface, TemaNord 2021:503, februar 2021
- Pillar IV: Kristin Jesnes & Sigurd M. Nordli Oppegaard (eds.) Platform work in the Nordic models: Issues, cases and responses. TemaNord 2020:513. Nordic Council of Ministers
- Pillar V: Jan Olav Christensen, Live Bakke Finne og Jesper Kristiansen: The future of the Nordic psychosocial work environment: Implications for occupational health,
- Pillar VI: Marianne Jenum Hotvedt, Natalie Videbæk Munkholm, Dagný Aradóttir Pind, Annamaria Westregård, Marjo Ylhäinen and Kristin Alsos The future of Nordic labour law Facing the challenges of changing labour relations. TemaNord 2020:534 2020
- Pillar VII: Finalizing report: Kristin Alsos og Jon Erik Dølvik (ed.): The future of work in the Nordic countries: Opportunities and challenges for the Nordic working life models
Pillar I - Main drivers of change
There is a variety of factors that influence changes in working life – at present, in the future, and in the past.
Too often, debates about the Future of Work (FoW) narrowly focus on changing technologies – currently digitalization – while equally important factors that already have been at work for a while and will continue influencing working life tend to be neglected.
Examples could be demographic change – ageing and migration – climate change, and economic and political changes associated with globalization, European integration, and rising income gaps, to mention a few.
The impact of such mega-trends on work is not unidirectional. Often they pull in divergent directions, some trends go in reverse, and some prove weaker or slower than expected. Moreover, the opportunities and threats they pose to jobs and working conditions are filtered by institutions, policies, and economic conditions that differ across countries, regions, and industries. That is, the future of work is undetermined and will ultimately depend on human agency and imagination.
In Pillar-I we will briefly review the main drivers of change that are likely to influence Nordic working life in the 15-20 years ahead, and discuss how they may affect the institutions and policy instruments that Nordic politicians and social actors can invoke to shape the FoW.
Pillar coordinator
Jon Erik Dølvik, Senior Researcher, Fafo.
Reports and events
- Fafo-seminar 27. november: Fremtidens arbeidsliv – muligheter og utfordringer for de nordiske modellene.
- Jon Erik Dølvik & Johan Røed Steen: The Nordic future of work: Drivers, institutions, and politics. TemaNord 2018:555.
Sammendrag av rapporten. - Trenderna pekar mot en mer polariserad arbetsmarknad. Johan Røed Steen intervjues i Norden, 24. november 2018.
- Jon Erik Dølvik: Power point presentation, Nordic conference May 15th–16th 2018 Stockholm: Shaping the Future of Work in the Nordic Countries.
FoWnordics: Pillar II - Digitalization of traditional forms of work
This pillar will focus on changes during the last decades in the occupational and job structure in the Nordic countries.
New technology in the form of digitalization and ICT, has been described in terms of robotics enhancing automatization, industrialization 4.0, and platforms facilitating the enrollment of extensive networks of resources.
In this pillar, our purpose is to examine how different approaches to digitalization, penetrating the established production system, affect jobs and occupations in the labour market, work and employment relations, and the strategies of stakeholders (employers, unions and governmental bodies) that are trying to govern this change.
Pillar coordinator
Bertil Rolandsson, Associate Professor, Gothenburg University.
Reports and events
- Publication: Bertil Rolandsson (ed.): Digital Transformations of Traditional Work in the Nordic Countries, desember 2020
- Thomas Berglund, Tuomo Alasoini, Jon Erik Dølvik, Stine Rasmussen, Johan Røed Steen and Pekka Varje (2020). Changes in the occupational structure of Nordic employment: Upgrading or polarization? Nordic future of work Working paper 2, 2nd edition
- Rolandsson, Bertil, Jon Erik Dølvik, Anna Hedenus, Johan Røed Steen, Anna Ilsøe, Trine Pernille Larsen and Tuomo Alasoini (2019). Digitalization in Nordic manufacturing: Some case-study illustrations.Nordic future of work Working paper 3
- Menneske mot roboter: Hva kan vi vente oss? Artikkel av Johan Røed Steen på Arbeidslivet.no 21. mai 2018.
- Seminar at Fafo - Future of work: Addressing the challenges of digitalisation, November, 2017.
Researchers
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Project manager:
Project period
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Start:January 2017
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End:April 2021
Commissioned by
- Nordic Council of Ministers