This book outlines the changes in the patterns of bilateral shipping and trade between Finland and Sweden from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The convergence of per capita income and economic structure between the Finnish and Swedish economies together with technological advances and greater political cooperation in the post World War II period has led to the development of closer maritime commercial relations between the two countries. In particular, since the 1960s the development of ferry services between the two countries has been significantly influenced by the growth of tourism as well as the expansion of commercial freight traffic. In addition, the studies on bilateral trade shows that the transformation of production seen in Finland and Sweden meant that the trade increasingly became dependent on an exchange of products arising from matching industries. This growing commodity trade togheter with intensified service exchange contributed to strengthen the economic ties between Sweden and Finland during the post-war period.

Moving Up or Moving On, Fredrik Andersson, Harry Holzer, and Julia Lane examine the characteristics of both employees and employers that lead to positive outcomes for workers. Using new Census data, Moving Up or Moving On follows a group of low earners over a nine-year period to analyze the behaviors and characteristics of individuals and employers that lead workers to successful career outcomes. The authors find that, in general, workers who moved on to different employers fared better than those who tried to move up within the same firm. While changing employers meant losing valuable job tenure and spending more time out of work than those who stayed put, workers who left their jobs in search of better opportunity elsewhere ended up with significantly higher earnings in the long term in large part because they were able to find employers that paid better wages and offered more possibilities for promotion. Yet moving on to better jobs is difficult for many of the working poor because they lack access to good-paying firms. Andersson, Holzer, and Lane demonstrate that low-wage workers tend to live far from good paying employers, making an improved transportation infrastructure a vital component of any public policy to improve job prospects for the poor. Labor market intermediaries can also help improve access to good employers. The authors find that one such intermediary, temporary help agencies, improved long-term outcomes for low-wage earners by giving them exposure to better-paying firms and therefore the opportunity to obtain better jobs. Taken together, these findings suggest that public policy can best serve the working poor by expanding their access to good employers, assisting them with job training and placement, and helping them to prepare for careers that combine both mobility and job retention strategies. Moving Up or Moving On offers a compelling argument about how low-wage workers can achieve upward mobility, and how public policy can facilitate the process. Clearly written and based on an abundance of new data, this book provides concrete, practical answers to the large questions surrounding the low-wage labor market."