Go Norse, ung man

Sweden will be happy to pay you to go;

Under a scheme organised by the local authorities in the town of Soderhamn and by Sweden's national employment office, anyone aged between 18 and 28 can volunteer to take a "Job Journey" to Oslo and attempt track down gainful employment.

Those who sign up get a ticket to the Norwegian capital and are put up in an Oslo youth hostel for a month, with Soderhamn council picking up the £20 a night bill. The package also includes on-the-spot guidance on how to get a job in Sweden's northern neighbour.

"We had an unemployment rate of over 25 per cent, so we had to find solutions," Magus Nilsen, the man in charge of the project at Soderhamn council, told the Daily Telegraph.