"Nordic model" on job creation draws praise

When government ministers from around the world came to Oslo Monday to find a way out of the global unemployment mess, the first thing they noted was that there's no mess here. Norway's unemployment rate is about 3 percent -- well below its level before the financial crisis. The participants, including the prime ministers of chaotic Spain and Greece, heard that labour groups, employers and the government here cooperate closely on wage settlements; that more than 50 percent of the workforce is unionized; that the public sector hires when the private sector cuts back; and that oil revenues flow to all. Everyone agreed that all that is wonderful -- and completely irrelevant to their own economies.