This paper examines local labour market participation across the Nordic Region. It contextualises and maps local labour markets in remote areas across the Nordic Region, utilising descriptive, public, and municipal-level data. It aims to enhance understanding of factors influencing labour market participation.

Focus is on remote areas and seven case study areas in particular: Norðurþing and Dalvíkurbyggð in Iceland, Stord and Hammerfest in Norway, Skellefteå and Gotland in Sweden, and Åland. 

Various aspects of these local labour markets are discussed, including employment rates, unemployment, and labour force participation, and explores how megatrends such as demographic shifts, technological advancements, globalisation, and climate change and the green transition impact them.

This paper has been produced as a background working paper for the “Sustainable Nordic Remote Labour Markets (SUNREM)” project. SUNREM explores how local labour markets in the Nordic Region face the opportunities and challenges related to the global megatrends in general, and the green transition in particular.