For the first time since the corona era, Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg and NHO chief Ole Erik Almlid are joining forces on a political plan. On a stroll in Frognerparken, they state that they will scrap two of the Støre government’s most important achievements in working life policy. With full support from NHO, the Conservative Party will: lower the threshold into working life by opening up general access to hiring in temporary positions within a strict set of regulations. ensure that business can hire labor if needed, in line with the rules that applied from 2019. PROMISE: Both Almlid and Solberg want a more liberal set of regulations for hiring labour. Photo: Ksenia Novikova Around one in five people of working age are out of work or education in this country, according to Nav. Getting more of these nearly 700,000 into working life will therefore be a major challenge for any government, regardless of colour. – The barriers the government has created on hiring labour, should be softened again, says Solberg. – This means that it is permissible to hire labor to be able to remove peaks, to have temporary workers. It also indirectly means that you can try out people in a position related to this. We want more liberal, temporary rules, says the leader of the Conservative Party. The proposals are described in Høyre’s proposal for an election programme, which is now being consulted in the party. – A way in The current government was quick to remove access to general temporary employment in Norwegian companies after the change of power in 2021. The access to hire labor was also tightened. The regulations were liberalized during Erna Solberg’s reign. The Støre government justified its measures with a need to better protect workers against short, temporary and more uncertain employment contracts. Solberg and Almlid, on the other hand, believe that a liberalization could make the path into work shorter for people who are outside, or who have a “hole in their CV”. – We know that the staffing agencies were the way in for a great many of those who struggled in the labor market, says Solberg. Almlid says three out of four NHO companies have variations in production during the year. Thus, the need for labor also varies. – The rental rules have made it more difficult to solve it. This has led to many not bidding on assignments, he says to news. The Conservative Party’s proposal to get more people into work Lower the threshold into working life by opening up general access to hiring in temporary positions within a strict set of regulations. Ensure that business can hire labor if needed, in line with the rules that applied from 2019. Through the cooperation between the parties, take the initiative to find arrangements where more people can stay in work for longer, with adjusted wages and working conditions so that both employee and employer benefit on this. Review which positions will in future have special age limits, as well as which age limits will apply, in consultation with the parties. Remove the age limit for job protection in working life of 72 years. Introduce a general rule whereby people under the age of 30 are not to be granted disability benefits, unless there are obvious reasons why one should have it, and that the young people instead receive income security through a work-oriented benefit. Facilitate increased use of alternative rotation arrangements to achieve more continuity and full-time work. Improve employers’ incentives to reduce long-term absence, including by considering allowing companies to pay a proportion of long-term absence in return for paying fewer days of short-term absence. (Source: Høyre) – Reversing party Efforts to get more people into work are linked to the debate about whether the current welfare state will be sustainable in the decades to come. Then fewer and fewer working people will have to pay for an ever-increasing number of pensioners and people on benefits. According to Almlid, six out of ten NHO companies lack labour: – We need more ways into working life, not fewer. And the companies are calling for labour. If we do not resolve this, productivity in Norway will not increase, but will continue to decrease. It is a very dangerous signal. TIGHTENED IN: The Conservative proposal to soften the rules for hiring and temporary employment is bad, says Labor and Inclusion Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap). Photo: Fredrik Pedersen / news But the Labor Party and LO are stiff when they hear about the plan from the Conservative Party and NHO. – The right is a reversal party. These are old proposals from the Conservative Party, says Labor and Inclusion Minister Tonje Brenna (Ap). – We know that someone who is employed temporarily earns less than someone who has a permanent job. – Won’t this be giving more people who are outside the working world a chance? – I don’t think so, because we manage to include many people with the current regulations, but also because those who are outside today need security for the job they are about to enter. LO deputy leader Steinar Krogstad fears that the Conservative Party’s proposal will have negative consequences for working life, and especially the proportion of permanent employees. He believes the current rules are flexible enough. – Many of the foreign workers that we have now taken into permanent positions in the production companies, may again end up in an uncertain staffing industry, he says. Published 14.11.2024, at 06.45
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Will let more people work as hired and temporary – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
