Danish Flexicurity Research Articles

Can we all be Denmark? The role of civic attitudes in welfare state reforms

Research has demonstrated the economic effectiveness of welfare state reforms that follow the Danish flexicurity model, broadly specifying the combination of highly flexible labor market policies and generous protection schemes. Notwithstanding, it has also been argued that large and generous welfare states may erode civic attitudes, defined here as people’s willingness to cheat on taxes and claim transfers to which they are not entitled. Combining data from all available waves of the World Values Survey and the European Values Study with a self-constructed flexicurity index, this paper finds that welfare state reforms involving a combination of higher benefits, lower labor market regulations, and active labor market policies are not significantly associated with an erosion of civic attitudes.

Crisis and the welfare state: the role of public employment services for job placement and the Danish flexicurity system during COVID-19

AbstractDenmark is a Nordic welfare state with local government autonomy in public service provision related to workfare policies. We use a policy experiment that re-opened on-site public employment services after the first COVID-19 lockdown in a spatially staggered manner to provide evidence on the effect of public employment services on job placement during a crisis. Early re-opening of on-site public employment services is associated with a better local labour market performance. It particularly benefits low-skilled unemployed and rural areas with specific sector mixes and demographic structures, why workfare-oriented welfare state arrangements remain important to counter social and regional imbalances.

Danish Flexicurity: Rights and Duties

Denmark is one of the richest countries in the world and achieves this in combination with low inequality, low unemployment, and high-income security. This performance is often attributed to the Danish labor market model characterized by what has become known as flexicurity. This essay describes and evaluates Danish flexicurity. The Danish experience shows that flexicurity in itself, that is, flexible hiring and firing rules for firms combined with high income security for workers, is insufficient for successful outcomes. The flexicurity policy also needs to include comprehensive active labor market programs (ALMPs) with compulsory participation for recipients of unemployment compensation. Denmark spends more on active labor market programs than any other OECD country. We review theory showing how ALMPs can mitigate adverse selection and moral hazard problems associated with high income security and review empirical evidence on the effectiveness of ALMPs from the ongoing Danish policy evaluation, which includes a systematic use of randomized experiments. We also discuss the aptness of flexicurity to meet challenges from globalization, automation, and immigration and the trade-offs that the United States (or other countries) would face in adopting a flexicurity policy.

Danish Flexicurity: Rights and Duties

Danish Flexicurity: Rights and Duties

The European flexicurity concept and the Dutch and Danish flexicurity models: How have they managed the Great Recession?

AbstractIn the mid‐2000s, the flexicurity concept was developed into a key EU policy concept. It drew its inspiration from the Danish and Dutch practices to combine labor market flexibility and security. However, the crisis' focus on bringing down national deficits and debts left little room to advance the concept. Lately, more emphasis has been placed on the need to take into consideration the social aspect of economic policy‐making. Current EU level documents see flexicurity as a guidance for structural reforms. However, the European flexicurity initiatives seem never to have had much impact in Denmark and the Netherlands. There are few accounts of the recent adjustment to the flexicurity models, be it at the EU or at national levels. Therefore, this article assesses the fate of flexicurity by scrutinizing its (adjusted) use as a political concept as well as a socio‐economic model. Although the Danish flexicurity model resembles the European flexicurity concept to a large extent, recent reforms have, overall, weakened rather than strengthened the flexicurity model. The Dutch flexicurity model has a narrower focus on normalizing atypical work, while recent reforms support this narrow flexicurity model. Meanwhile, the EU level concept has been changing every year, encompassing a growing number of issues.

Farewell flexicurity? Danish flexicurity and the crisis

Before the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, flexicurity topped the European labour market and social policy agenda. It was acclaimed for combining the flexibility of liberal labour markets with the security of social welfare states, thereby offering a viable formula for success in the new global economy. Nowhere was this better exemplified than in Denmark, with the Danish system repeatedly highlighted as a good example of flexicurity in action. In this article, we revisit the flexicurity concept, assessing how the Danish labour market came through the crisis. We argue that the economic crisis and especially political reforms of the unemployment insurance system have challenged the institutional complementarities of flexicurity, but that the Danish labour market is recovering and adapting to new challenges. The Danish case illustrates that institutional complementarities between flexibility and security are fragile and liable to disintegrate if the institutions providing flexicurity are not maintained and supported.

FLEXICURITY WITHOUT SECURITY An Inquiry into the Danish Flexicurity Model in a Neoliberal Era

The Danish flexicurity model is widely acknowledged and even advocated by the European Commission as a measure to achieve economic progress without compromising basic social conditions. It is therefore paradoxical that over the past decades the security component of the flexicurity model has faced steady retrenchments, jeopardizing its overall balance. The article applies a historical approach to understanding the transformation that has given way to a weakened position of workers in society, and asserts that the changes of the flexicurity model have been conditioned by the disappearance of the view of the “working class” as a potential threat to societal peace – a change closely connected to the waning of an alternative to capitalism and the related opportunityfor a spread of neoliberal political economy.

Danish flexicurity: preconditions and future prospects

AbstractThis article argues that Danish flexicurity is preconditioned by craft unionism that has historically been predominant in the Danish trade union movement. It is furthermore argued that flexicurity was on the verge to disappear when it became famous in the early 2000s, although yet not completely dead.

From diversity to conviviality: intra-EU mobility and international migration to Denmark in times of economic recession

ABSTRACTThis article explores differences among EU and non-EU migrants in accommodating to the Danish flexicurity labour and welfare regime during times of economic crisis. We build our findings on a quantitative survey followed by semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with EU and non-EU migrants who moved to Denmark during the recession period (2008–2013). We argue that the lack of multicultural policies triggers individualised strategies of accommodation rather than ethnic or national group base integration, favouring a more homogenous group of high-skilled and educated group of workers and students of postgraduate/higher education, whom we describe as a ‘flexicurity diversity group’. Through patterns of conviviality, individual socialisation is based here on common interests, needs and lifestyles and not on pre-defined ethnic and/or cultural traits. The transition from diversity to conviviality that is initiated by this group remains however incomplete in light of the unequal opportunities and the differentiated scheme of rights that apply to EU and non-EU immigrants. Danish flexicurity has thus not had the desired inclusive effects but discriminates in terms of facilitating easy access to the labour market for all, and ‘securing’ social benefits and offering rights and protection only to the privileged group of EU migrants.

The Danish Flexicurity Labour Market During the Great Recession

Can the Danish flexicurity model cope with a deep recession, or will long-term unemployment increase and the social safety net become overburdened? The Danish economy has experienced a boom-bust pattern ending with a large drop in GDP and thus labour demand. So far, the flexicurity model has coped with the Great Recession in the sense that gross flows in the labour market remain high, most unemployment spells are short, and there are no strong indications of increases in long-term unemployment. There are thus no signs that the large and prolonged aggregate demand shock is causing an increase in structural unemployment. Active labour market policies and fiscal space to accommodate the crisis are important in accounting for the performance of the model.

Danish Disability Law and Policy in The Field of Employment (Danish Report)

In Denmark, the labour market has traditionally been governed by the Danish flexicurity model consisting of relatively weak protection against dismissal and relatively strong support for persons who are not in employment. Consequently, reduced working capacity has, as a rule, been considered a just ground for dismissal. The EU Framework Equality Directive challenges the traditional laxity in relation to dismissals due to reduced working capacity when it is related to disability. Traditionally, employment promotional schemes targeting the employment of persons with disabilities have been relatively generous. However new austerity measures have led to cut-backs in these schemes. In sum, the Danish flexicurity model is being challenged both as regards flexibility and security.

Investing in people to promote activation and empowerment: The case of Denmark and lessons for other countries

AbstractDanish labour market policies and the Danish flexicurity model were feted during the 1990s when active labour market policies combined with economic policies were able to revitalize the Danish economy and to reduce unemployment from 12.0 per cent to 1.4 per cent by mid‐2008. This article explains the background for this development, explains the major features of the Danish flexicurity model, and uses this to explain recent reform developments in Denmark. Investing in people and decentralization of the implementation of policies are important features of the relative success of Denmark's policies. The importance of taking the individual's competences and labour market experience into consideration as well as the importance of adapting active labour market polices to needs in the local labour market are lessons to be drawn from policy developments in Denmark. The article underlines that Denmark's policies are seen as structural policies that seek to adapt structures in the labour market, social benefit system and educational system to future challenges – and that for structural policies to be successful their timing with economic policies is important. This timing is thought to have been successful the 1990s, but it remains to be seen if this has been so in relation to the most recent reforms.

Narratives about Labour Market Transitions

In European Union policy, Denmark is often referred to as a model country in terms of its flexicurity model and provision of financial support and access to education and training during periods of unemployment, i.e. during transitional phases in a working life. However, in the research on flexicurity and its implications for labour market transitions, little attention has been paid to the views and experiences of the individuals concerned. The aim of this article is to connect the grand narrative with individual narratives about labour market transitions in the Danish flexicurity system. On the basis of narrative interviews with skilled workers, this article explores how labour market transitions are experienced by the individual and the role played by national support structures in the individual narratives. The article shows how, for the individual, a transition may prove to be a valuable learning experience during which radical career decisions are taken, and how support structures may work to the detriment of such learning and of the principles behind flexicurity. The article points to a reconceptualisation of transitions as important learning opportunities during which (more) adequate support structures could be provided.

“Shelter from the storm?” - Danish flexicurity and the crisis

The Danish model won fame for its performance during the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000-years and took a position as a model for the European Employment Strategy and a much cited example of a real life flexicurity model.Like most other European countries Denmark has now fallen into a deep economic crisis. This has created debates about the ability of the Danish model to sustain external chocks. Some have further argued that Danish employment will be more vulnerable to economic downturns due to the low level of employment protection legislation (EPL). These issues are in the focus of the present article, which describes the reactions of the Danish employment system to the economic crisis and the relationship between the political responses to the crisis and some main institutional characteristics of the Danish labour market model.JEL classificationE32 - Business Fluctuations; Cycles, J68 - Public Policy, J08 - Labour Economics Policies

Active labour market policies in a recession

Abstract A major labour market challenge following the Great Recession is to avoid an increase in long-term unemployment and thus the structural unemployment rate. Active labour market policies may play an important role in this respect. We consider these issues with outset in Denmark which is a country relying extensively on active labour market policies. It is also characterised by high flows into and out of employment, implying that most unemployment spells are rather short and the unemployment rate is relative low. These features have been maintained despite the crisis, and in this sense the Danish flexicurity model has coped reasonably well with the crisis. The Danish active labour market policies have been continuously changed in light of experience, new knowledge and changes in the labour market situation. This paper reviews and discusses these changes in light of the recession and considers how the labour market has coped with the recession.

The need for novel strategies to analyze the dynamic pattern of worker’s health over time and the consequences for sustained employability

The need for novel strategies to analyze the dynamic pattern of worker’s health over time and the consequences for sustained employability

Analysis of selected aspects of the Flexicurity model as an innovative labor market approach and their potential applicability under the Slovak conditions

Danish Flexicurity system presents an example for other EU member countries. This complex approach can lead to a modernization of the European labor markets, an improvement of hiring candidates, a diminishing gap between employed and unemployed and consequently minimization of poverty and social exclusion. The paper focuses on significant aspects of the Flexicurity system implementation, an analysis of the development of unemployment in the Slovak Republic in comparison to Denmark and an outline of barriers of its application in the Slovak Republic.

The flexibility of flexicurity: The Danish model reconsidered

During the last five to ten years, much attention internationally has been focused on the concept of flexicurity, and especially on the Danish model of flexicurity. Some have even talked about the Danish ‘magic formula’ of flexicurity. The Danish flexicurity model has been characterized by a special relation between flexibility, social security and active labour market policy, where a high level of social security is seen as a precondition for a labour market characterized by flexibility. In this article it is argued that the Danish labour market is characterized by having not just one model of flexicurity, but two. These two models cover different parts of the labour market and different segments of employees. The first model (the blue-collar flexicurity model) – the one that is often focused on in the literature – covers primarily skilled and unskilled workers on the labour market. The second model (the white-collar flexicurity model) – one seldom mentioned in the literature – covers primarily employees with middle-range or high-range education and qualifications.

Strained Compromises? Danish Flexicurity During Crisis

The Danish concept of flexicurity in a `Golden Triangle´ of low job protection, high income security and high employment security is not only about a balance between labor market flexibility and social security. Arguably, it is also a series of more or less stable underlying compromises between social partners about the main mechanisms and aims of labor market regulation which - supposedly - should be focused on employment rather than jobs, and competition on quality rather than on labor costs. However, the `Golden Triangle´ - this article argues - seems in need of complementary concepts. The article therefore introduces, `centralized decentralization´ - a concept that directs our attention to forms of flexibility and security primarily for people in work. Most studies on Danish flexicurity have been carried out under favorable economic conditions. In light of the economic slump hitting Denmark in 2008, this article investigates if and how the recession challenged these compromises by comparing two rounds of case-based interviews in three metalworking companies in 2007 and 2009. It is shown that practice has indeed changed - albeit modestly - due to worsened economic circumstances. For example the case studies show that the hypothesized preference for external numerical flexibility is perhaps too crude as employers use different ways to restructure employment. Especially the examples of de facto concessionary bargaining to save jobs are important here - although the extent of concessions is modest. The evidence thus suggests that the `Golden Triangle´ flexicurity compromises are indeed strained by the economic cycle and that responses to impetus for restructuring are far more nuanced than sometimes portrayed. It is argues that more company studies across national labor markets and industrial relations institutions will enhance our understanding of the dynamics during times of restructuring.

Analysis of the Operational Effects of Danish Flexicurity Model

European Union’s flexicurity model is an operational method that reinforces the elasticity of the labor markets of its member countries and improves the employment level. This model emphasizes that flexibility and security are not contradictory but mutually supplementary and supportive. Labor policies constituted by all countries consider the trade-off between the flexibility and security to coordinate roles of the labor policies. The flexicurity model shows its validity in solving the employment problems in member countries of European Union, especially in Danmark. This paper first introduces the connotation of European Union’s flexicurity model, highlights its flexibility and safeguarding; second, it introduces the operational method and results of European Union’s flexicurity model in Denmark ; finally, this paper considers the features of the disadvantaged groups in China and proposes the way to construct the flexicurity system of the employment of disadvantaged groups from the perspectives of choosing the balance point of the flexicurity model, strengthening education and training system, reinforcing unemployment insurance, implementing active labor market policies, establishing and improving social dialogue mechanism, etc.