A more inclusive labour market

Speech by the Norwegian Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion, mr. Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, during EU's Informal Council Meeting of Employment, Social and Health Ministers in Helsinki, Finland, 7 July 2006.

  

Introduction
Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to thank the Presidency of the European Union for inviting me to take part in this important discussion.

The situation and key challenges in Norway
Norway is fortunate to have a wide range of natural resources. But despite all our oil, gas, hydropower and fish, in actual fact, people are our most important resource. It has been estimated that labour counts for almost 90% of Norway’s national assets.

The Norwegian economy is very good, with strong employment growth, high labour force participation and declining unemployment. And yet at the same time, a quarter of the working age population in Norway is inactive. More than 10% of the working age population is permanently out of the labour market because of health reasons. In addition, about 7 per cent of all working days are lost due to sick-leave.

Most studies of labour productivity put Norway among the top performing countries in Europe. But the high number of people on disability benefits or sick-leave is of great concern for me and the government.

Many of these individuals want to get back to work. But increased pressure on productivity may exclude people with lower work capacity from the labour market. This leads de facto to social exclusion.

Moreover, in an economy with need for more labour supply, we have to take care of all our productive forces.  We have therefore begun to focus more on people’s actual capacity to work.

Creating a more inclusive labour market is then one of the main ambitions of our government.

So how can we achieve a more inclusive labour market?

First of all through legislation.

Norwegian labour legislation is primarily focused on achieving  full participation in working life and on protecting the health and safety of workers. In addition the legislation aims to secure sound conditions of employment and a meaningful working situation for each individual employee.

A new Working Environment Act was introduced this year. It places increased demands on methodology and a systematic approach to health and safety. It also stresses the importance of employee representation at work. Our clear political vision is that a secure worker is a good worker. By secure, we mean both in regard to keeping his job – and in regard to having a safe working environment. Such secure employees will more likely be able to deal positively with flexibility and innovation than employees with less rights and less security. Again – a secure worker is a good worker.

Secondly we can achieve a more inclusive labour market through closer and better cooperation with the social partners.

Cooperation with the Social Partners
In that context we have just renewed the tripartite agreement on a more inclusive work place. It has three main targets: 

- firstly: to reduce sick leave;
- secondly: to raise the average age of retirement 
- and finally: to include more disabled people in the labour market.

The social partners have committed themselves to strengthening their efforts to prevent absence from work, including more systematic health and safety measures in enterprises. The government will provide economic incentives for enterprises which establish local agreements for an inclusive workplace.

Quality at work through secure jobs with flexible organisation
A third important element of the government’s strategy is to promote greater job-security for workers. Job-security is vital for individual well-being at work, especially for workers with reduced work capacity. It is also an important basis for achieving a productive and innovative working environment.

We want to stimulate increased working time flexibility within the necessary framework for securing an inclusive working life.

Finally, we must not forget our elderly workers. Age should not be a barrier to work. On the contrary, there are many benefits from/in keeping senior workers at the work place. We need their experience and skills especially to help businesses and industries adapt to rapid structural changes.

Ladies and gentlemen, my conclusion is a very simple one: an inclusive market is a productive market!

Thank you for your attention.