We’re into the dog days of summer and I’m just back from vacation, so here are some interesting workforce odds and ends worth catching up on:

• Should the government mandate diversity in the boardroom? Yes, it may sound like the latest from the Obama administration, but it’s actually happening in Scandinavia, according to NPR.org. “In Norway, gender diversity in the boardroom isn’t just a nice idea, it’s the law,” the story says. “The boards of all publicly traded and public limited companies in Norway must have at least 40 percent female representation.”

The law has teeth in it too.

“Companies that fail to comply can, in theory, be shut down,” NPR notes. “So far, all are complying and none has been closed. But there is sharp disagreement in Norway over whether quotas have really changed the status quo.” And, many are skeptical that the mandate has actually had much impact. “While few in Norway want to go back to the status quo, many are questioning whether the state can really mandate corporate diversity,” the story adds.

Of course, there is a lot of back and forth in Norway from experts who think this is a good thing to those who don’t believe the mandate has had much of an impact. But here’s my view having worked in a corporate culture that made diversity a priority: Without a big push from leadership at the top, diversity in the workforce just doesn’t happen.

• Everyone knows that it’s a tough time for workers in the Big, Bad Recession, but who knew that porn workers would also be struggling? According to the Los Angeles Times, “the adult entertainment business, centered in [Southern California’s] San Fernando Valley, has weathered several recessions since it took off with the advent of home video in the 1980s. But this time the industry is not dealing with just a weakened economy. A growing abundance of free content on the Internet is undercutting consumers’ willingness to pay for porn, and with it the ability of many workers to earn a living in the business.”

The story quotes one porn actress who has seen her annual income drop from $150,000 to $50,000 annually, but as the Times notes, “the effects of the downturn have been felt most severely by the thousands of [behind-the-scenes] people who work in the adult entertainment business. Kelly Labanco doesn’t need industry estimates to know what’s happening. The makeup artist, who has worked in porn for five years, is landing half as many jobs as she did a year ago and has seen her pay drop from a high of $250 an hour to less than $100.”

I know; it’s hard to feel sorry for someone making around $100 per hour, but it just goes to show you that when it comes to the Big, Bad Recession, no industry or group of workers is immune.

• Here’s another recession-driven workforce trend: Desperate people are willing to take previously unpleasant and unacceptable jobs, according to an Associated Press story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “People who have been out of work for months are lining up for jobs at places they once considered unthinkable: slaughterhouses, sewage plants, prisons,” the story says.

“I have to just shut my mouth because I can’t do anything about it,” said Nichole McRoberts of Sedalia, Missouri, who says she pictured more for herself at age 30 than working in a poultry plant, cutting diseased or damaged flesh off chicken carcasses that speed by on an assembly line.

Yes, that sounds like terrible work, but given that nearly an additional 250,000 lost their jobs in July, in this economy even a bad job is far better than having no job at all.

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