After-vork drinks? VAB? OB? The Swedish workplace can be a jungle of wonderfully-weird terminology. This glossary of terms for working life in Sweden will help you to join the conversation without having to guess what it’s about. “Join the AW this Wednesday!” “Henrik won’t be in today, he’s VABbing” “Anyone fancy a fikapaus?” Working in a different country is hard enough without having absolutely no idea what everyone else is talking about. This non-exhaustive glossary of terms for working life in Sweden will help you to join the conversation without having to guess what it’s about. A - A-kassa (Sweden’s unemployment fund) Short for Arbetslöshetskassa, this is the unemployment fund that takes care of you if you find yourself unemployed. Everyone working in Sweden is eligible for unemployment insurance at a low basic level, but there are also several a-kassa funds you … [Read more...] about 29 terms you need to know if you’re working in Sweden
Sweden
Gun ’em Down! Finland, Sweden Getting Tough on Drones
Following a Swedish government survey that proposes empowering the defense forces to shoot down or otherwise neutralize drones, the Finnish government has proposed the same idea. According to the Finnish government, the Armed Forces should be allowed to intervene if unauthorized UAVs pose a threat to defense operations, the daily newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reported. The proposal has been submitted to parliament. The Finnish government stressed that security policy changes require the military to expand its powers to be able to deal with hybrid threats. The Finnish Defense Ministry, in turn, described the threat of UAVs as "significant," because it model aircraft and drones could be used to disrupt military operations. As for shooting down drones in public places, the Armed Forces must agree on an intervention with the police, the proposal said. READ MORE: Special Delivery: Finnish Prisons … [Read more...] about Gun ’em Down! Finland, Sweden Getting Tough on Drones
Sweden marks record year for tourism
The figure marked a 7.4 percent increase compared to 2016, which in turn marks the highest year-on-year growth since 2006. "This is an excellent figure for Swedish economy and employment," said Gunilla Nordlöf, the head of the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket), which released the figures on Friday. Global trends show that it's the international tourists who are bringing in the big bucks, and this is especially true for Sweden. In 2017, it was the visitors from abroad who were responsible for 42 percent of the total tourist expenditure, up from just 27 percent in 2000. Nordlöf told the TT news agency that a weak krona was partially responsible for the extra tourists. FOR MEMBERS: What does the weak Swedish krona mean for you? The United Nations expects international tourism to rise 3.3 percent each year up until 2030, with Sweden hoping to enjoy the fruits of this growth. Indeed, tourism made up 6.3 percent of … [Read more...] about Sweden marks record year for tourism
‘Historic Milestone’ as Arabic Reportedly Becomes Sweden’s Second Largest Tongue
For over 800 years, Finnish has been Sweden's largest minority language. Owing to the recent years' influx of asylum seekers from predominantly Arab-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Arabic has now deposed Finnish to third place, researcher Mikael Parkvall argued in an opinion piece published in Svenska Dagbladet. Parkvall estimated the number of Arabic speakers in the Scandinavian country of 10 million as "over 200,000." According to Parkvall's calculation, the number of Arabic speakershas doubled over the past decade, while the ageing Finnish diaspora, on the contrary, has been leaking speakers at the fastest rate. While this development was hardly surprising, Parkvall argued, it nevertheless constituted a "historic milestone," as an over 800-year-old episode in Swedish history effectively came to an end at some time after the 2015 migrant crisis. READ … [Read more...] about ‘Historic Milestone’ as Arabic Reportedly Becomes Sweden’s Second Largest Tongue
Sweden makes nuclear U-turn
Sweden made a sharp turn away from its 29-year ban on new nuclear power plants last week when the government overturned the 1980 law. The Swedish government feels that in order to meet its 2020 goal of cutting carbon emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels it will need the help of nuclear power. Government ministers will be introducing a bill to parliament in March that will allow new modern nuclear power plants to be built on existing sites. What makes this change of policy significant is that Sweden was one of the pioneers of the global anti-nuclear campaign in the wake of the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 in the US. In 1980, Sweden’s government voted to phase out nuclear reactors, one of the first nations to take serious action on the issue. The Canberra Times reports that Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has stated he doesn’t feel bound by the 1980 referendum because it never specified what kind of power generation would replace its nuclear reactors. … [Read more...] about Sweden makes nuclear U-turn