The Nordic Council of Ministers’ vision is for the Region to be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. Cross-border labour market mobility in the Nordic Region will play an important role in achieving that goal.

In this working paper, we share the latest data on labour market mobility across national borders in the Nordic Region in the form of both migration and commuting. We also present findings from a review of current literature on labour market mobility in the Nordic Region and present an analytical framework for exploring potential improvements to it.

The working paper was written by Anna Lundgren, Senior Research Fellow and Ágúst Bogason, Research Fellow at Nordregio. A reference group comprising stakeholders from cross-border regions and Info Norden (see Appendix) provided input.

The paper represents our contribution to research in this area and we invite others to comment on it. The project will present its final results in 2023.

This working paper is part of the research project “Re-start Nordic competence mobility” under the thematic group of Green, resilient and innovative regions, which is part of the regional co-operation programme funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The first phase of the project resulted in a chapter, “Labour market mobility between the Nordic countries” in State of the Nordic Region 2022.