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.
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 Oppegaar, 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
De nordiske arbeidsministrene og representanter for arbeidslivets parter hadde 2. juni et digitalt møte for å diskutere sluttrapporten. Les en oppsummering av diskusjonen på Arbeidslivetinorden.org
Prosjektets sluttrapport er publisert: Kristin Alsos og Jon Erik Dølvik (red.): The future of work in the Nordic countries: Opportunities and challenges for the Nordic working life models, mai 2021
Intervju med Jon Erik Dølvik på Norden.org (in Swedish): Forskare varnar för en delad arbetsmarknad: ”Den nordiska modellen behöver förstärkas”, 7. mai 2021
Publikasjon av sluttrapport, pilar V: Christensen, Bakke Finne, Kristiansen: The future of the Nordic psychosocial work environment:: Implications for occupational health, februar 2021
Publikasjon, pilar II: Digital Transformations of Traditional Work in the Nordic Countries, desember 2020
Intervju i Aftenposten og E24: Jon Erik Dølvik om digitalisering og robot-utviklingen (bak betalingsmur), 30. november 2020
STOR SLUTTKONFERANSE: Mange av prosjektets konklusjoner ble presentert og debattert på en egen online-konferanse, 26. november 2020. Se innlegg på Youtube.
Intervju (på svensk) med Jon Erik Dølvik om prosjektet Nordic Future of Work og hvordan Norden vil kunne og burde komme seg ut av koronakrisa. «Jon Erik Dølvik: Uppdämd efterfrågan kan ge högre sysselsättning», 26. november 2020
Publikasjon, pilar VI: The future of Nordic labour law: Facing the challenges of changing labour relations, oktober 2020
Norden.org omtaler rapporten «Platform work in the Nordic models: Issues, cases and responses» og tematikken som er tema for et eget Fafo-seminar 23. juni, 3. juni 2020
Prosjektdeltaker Sigurd M. Nordli Oppegaard er medforfatter i en kronikk om «Den doble krisa for gig-arbeidere» i Manifest tidsskrift, 15. mai 2020
Nordic Conference on The Working Conditions of Tomorrow, 7. november 2019, Reykjavik. Pål Molander (STAMI) presenterer siste nytt fra FoW
Intervju med Kristin Jesnes i Arbeidsliv i Norden 12. september 2019 (Foodoras cyklister i Oslo strejkar)
Towards Upgrading or Polarization? Changes in the Swedish Occupational Structure from an International Perspective. Konferanse 22. oktober, Gøteborgs Universitet
Ny rapport 26. august: Platform economy and the opportunities for the knowledge-intensive labor market. Nordic Innovation
Kristin Jesnes snakker om plattformøkonomien i NRK Her og nå ifm Foodora-streiken
Intervju med Kristin Jesnes i Dagstidningen ETC Göteborg 15. august 2019 (Gig-ekonomin: himmel eller helvete?)
Intervju med Kristin Jesnes i A-magasinet 9. august 2019 (Da jeg var hunter, rider og street crew)
Framtidas arbeidsliv: dommedagen som uteble. Intervju med Jon Erik Dølvik på arbeidslivet.no 3. april 2019.
Digitalisering och nya arbetsformer: Mycket sker under ytan. Jon Erik Dølvik intervjues i Arbeidsliv i Norden, 29. mars 2019
Kristin Alsos holdt innlegg under regjeringens seminarserie «Fremtidens arbeidsliv», 23. oktober 2019
Kristin Jesnes intervjuet på podcast til NRK Radio Krig og fred, 17. oktober 2019
Kristin Jesnes intervjuet i Transportarbetaren.se, 3. oktober 2019
Forskere får 6 millioner til kortlægning af digitalt platformsarbejde, Faos 3. oktober 2019
Kristin Jesnes intervjuet i NRK Nyheter, 27. september 2019
Kristin Jesnes intervjuet i NRK nyhetsettermiddag, 27. september 2019
Publikasjon, pilar II: Bertil Rolandsson (ed.): Digital Transformations of Traditional Work in the Nordic Countries, desember 2020
Publikasjon, pilar VI: The future of Nordic labour law: Facing the challenges of changing labour relations,
I en svenskspråklig artikkel i Arbeidsliv i Norden intervjues Jon Erik Dølvik om prosjektet Nordic Future of Work og hvordan Norden vil kunne og burde komme seg ut av krisa.
Kristine Nergaard intervjuet i NRK nyhetslunsj
Platform work performed by a qualified work force – the case of technical translators. NfoW Brief 10
Key concepts and changing labour relations in Denmark. Part 1 Country report. NfoW WP4
Key concepts and changing labour relations in Finland. Part 1 Country report. NfoW WP5
Key concepts and changing labour relations in Iceland. Part 1 Country report. NfoW WP6
Key concepts and changing labour relations in Norway. Part 1 Country report. NfoW WP7
Key concepts and changing labour relations in Sweden. Part 1 Country report. NfoW WP8
Trenderna pekar mot en mer polariserad arbetsmarknad. Johan Røed Steen intervjues i Norden, 24. november 2018.
Møt Ellie som kan bli din nye kollega. – Jeg er ikke redd for arbeidsløshet. Det handler om at oppgavene blir annerledes, sier Johan Røed Steen til Fontene 27. august 2018.
Ahlberg, Kerstin (2018). Kommer plattformsföretagen kunna passa in i den nordiska modellen? Arbeidsliv i Norden, 18. juni.
Menneske mot roboter: Hva kan vi vente oss? Artikkel av Johan Røed Steen på Arbeidslivet.no 21. mai 2018.
Jon Erik Dølvik inteviewed in Arbeidsliv i Norden, May 16th 2018
Shaping the Future of Work in the Nordic Countries. Nordic conference May 15th–16th 2018 Stockholm. See also Dølvik's presentation at the conference.
Airbnb skaper bølger i Frankrike og Norge. Intervju med Kristin Jesnes i NRK P2 Studio 29. mai 2018.
Presentation of the project by Jon Erik Dølvik, Johan Røed Steen and Kristin Jesnes at the NFS/FES Conference on the Future of Work: Labour, just a click away? in Stockholm, November 2017.
Abelia-sjefen: – Våre plattformøkonomi-medlemmer ønsker å spille etter reglene. FriFagbevegelse.no 11.01.2018.
Delningsekonomin och effekten på arbetsmarknaden. Intervju med Jon Erik Dølvik og Kristin Jesnes i Arbeidsliv i Norden, mai 2017.
Delingsøkonomien kan gjøre flere fattige og sårbare. Forskning.no 14.2 2017.
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.
Jon Erik Dølvik, Senior Researcher, Fafo.
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.
Bertil Rolandsson, Associate Professor, Gothenburg University.
Non-standard work – defined as employment contracts other than full-time open-ended positions – has become more widespread in parts of the Nordic labour markets since the Global Financial Crisis.
An increasingly larger share of the Nordic workforce work under non-standard employment arrangements such as marginal part-time, temporary agency work, fixed-term contracts and self-employed without employees.
Furthermore, new forms of non-standard work has emerged like click work on digital platforms and zero-hour contracts often challenging current employment and work environment regulation.
However, wide cross-national variations exist among the Nordic countries. Temporary contracts – covering both fixed-term contracts and temporary agency work – seem most widespread in Sweden and Iceland, whereas a comparatively larger share of Danish employees holds marginal part-time positions.
In Finland, the incidence of self-employed without employees is comparatively higher than in the other four Nordic countries.
The aim of this sub-project is to map the development of non-standard work in the Nordics since 2000 and the mechanisms behind. We also seek to offer insights in emerging forms of non-standard work and develop methods that can inspire national statistical offices to find ways to include these groups in their statistics.
Furthermore, we seek to uncover relevant policy responses among public authorities and the social partners in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, which can serve as inspiring examples for how the increasing amount and variety of non-standard work can be handled.
Anna Ilsøe, Associate professor, Employment Relations Research Centre (FAOS) at Copenhagen University.
Platform work is still marginal in the Nordic countries, but whilst offering promising prospects for innovation and growth, it may, if it gains momentum, also engender disruptive change in parts of the labour market.
Its future path of evolution depends, amongst others, on the regulative responses of governments and social partners, and on the platforms’ ability to construct business concepts that not only meet the expectations of customers but also those of the workforce and the wider society.
Given the Nordic labour markets’ historical capacity for adjustment to change, one can indeed envisage paths of evolutionary change whereby platform work is incorporated into the associational institutions of the Nordic model, but alternative paths where platforms serve as engines for further disorganization, externalization of work, and risk for more inferior work environments appear equally plausible.
In this pillar, we will study the further spread and evolution of platform work, employment relations, and regulative, institutional responses in the Nordic countries in the context of evolving EU regulations.
Kristin Jesnes, Researcher, Fafo
There is solid scientific evidence that work environment factors have an impact on worker’s health, and the costs of this for enterprises and society are substantial.
New scientific studies in this field clearly show that work environment interventions, as long as they are means-tested, knowledge-based and systematically implemented, return the investments with a positive outcome, often also resulting in more efficient production processes or higher quality in the services provided.
However, new forms of work might result in novel, unforeseen work environment challenges, which might limit the positive outcome potential of new technologies and their application in working life.
Such effects might be critical when the changes are rapid, as we are facing today. Thus, there is a need for knowledge on how trends supposed to mark future work life may cause new exposures detrimental to worker’s health and well-being.
Pillar V will address the consequences and challenges for the future working environment in the Nordic countries.
Jan Olav Christensen, Researcher at National Institute of Occupational Health (STAMI).
Pillar VI will examine the need and potential for renewal of Nordic labour law in light of changes in the labour market caused by digitalization and new forms of work.
More specifically, the pillar will try to:
Marianne J. Hotvedt, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oslo.
Kristin Alsos, Research Director, Fafo.
The purpose and issues to be addressed in pillar VI is to synthetize the main findings of the project with emphasis on possible societal strategies to influence, accommodate, and counter detrimental effects of the envisaged future change in work, work environments, employment relations, and labour markets.
With emphasis on changes in the roles of organized actors and the relationship between statutory and negotiated regulation, the overarching aim in this pillar is to discuss the future of the Nordic model itself, with special focus on needs, avenues, and possible means to remedy emerging gaps and revitalizing its ability to reconcile growth, efficiency, and equity in working life.
See also Fafo's research area: The Nordic model
Jon Erik Dølvik, Senior Researcher, Fafo
Kristin Alsos, Research Director, Fafo