[歐洲] 北歐勞動市場-老闆是你朋友的地方
響往北歐生活的人可以看一下這一篇，
Nordic labour markets
Where bosses will be your friends
Apr 3rd 2008 | COPENHAGEN
From The Economist print edition
A desperate plea for skilled workers who can bear to stay
IT MIGHT be the endless pine forests, the locals beating themselves with
birch twigs in the sauna or the odd notion of golfing in the snow. Whichever
it is, the Finnish labour ministry's promotional video to attract skilled
foreign workers has a ring of desperation. The video (which is available in
English, Polish and Romanian) seeks to brand the country as “the cool attic
of Europe” and lists Finland's attractions: high quality of life, clean air,
good schools and “managers who treat workers almost like friends”.
The Finns and their Nordic neighbours have reason to worry. Figures from
Eurostat show that unemployment in all the Nordic countries is well below the
European Union average. In Denmark the seasonally adjusted jobless rate of
around 2% is the lowest since the early 1970s. In Norway unemployment is also
just over 2% (see chart).
With economies throughout the region expected to slow soon, low unemployment
is not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, employers across the
Nordic region are complaining of labour shortages and fretting about wage
inflation and reduced export competitiveness.
The Swedish response has been the most radical: a proposal that will
virtually guarantee entry to any non-EU worker with a job offer from a
Swedish employer. Residence and employment permits, initially valid for two
years, can be extended for an extra two, with the possibility of permanent
status afterwards. The labour minister, Tobias Billstrom, says foreign
workers are needed to counter a greying population and shrinking labour
force. “We've had a one-track immigration policy. The only way to get into
Sweden since the 1970s has been as an asylum seeker,” he notes. Norway has
also simplified the rules. Previously, foreign workers faced weeks of waiting
to have their papers processed. Now they can start work as soon as they have
lodged their properly filled out applications.
Yet opening doors and cutting paperwork might not be enough. All Nordic
countries have a big problem attracting and retaining the most skilled
foreign workers. Some 120,000 foreigners have jobs in Norway, for example,
but only a small minority are highly skilled. The directorate of immigration
can let in 5,000 highly skilled workers from outside the EU every year, but
the annual quota has never been filled. The Danes, too, have difficulties
attracting skilled workers. Denmark's new plan to introduce a points-based
green-card scheme might woo some engineers and IT wizards, but will it induce
them to stay? New figures from the Danish Economic Council, a
government-sponsored think-tank, show that 20% of foreign workers leave
within a year, and 40% go within two years.
Observers' explanations for this range from the prosaic (dismal weather,
difficult languages) to the political (perceptions of hostility to
foreigners). But it adds up to the same conclusion: enticing skilled
foreigners to the Nordics is a tough job.
http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25676
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