Flexicurity: the Danish Model

Résumé du document

The word "flexicurity" is used to describe a social system combining an easy possibility for the employers of hiring and firing - flexibility - to important social benefits for unemployed people - security. This model is typical for Denmark for different reasons. Welfare benefits are centralised under the state authority represented by one minister that has in charge the employment issue and the social assistance. Moreover, in the Labour market regulation, the state intervenes rarely with legislation. Most of the rules are the product of a consensus between employers and powerful trade unions. The "flexicurity" model consists in on one hand, the free possibility for employers to hire and fire people, following the economic trend, which depends more and more on the international fluctuations, on opportunities offered by new technologies... On the other hand, the state has in charge the unemployed people and provides good conditions to maintain their standard of living but also to incite them to find a new job through training, education, job offers... This concept of "flexicurity" put together three notions that are not used to be coordinated: the Labour legislation, the unemployment benefits system and the employment policy. The objective is to protect people more than jobs. Indeed, the necessity was, after the crisis of the 1970s, to develop new mechanisms of security and social protection that are adapted to new requirements and that permit the society to take advantage of technical progresses and globalisation trend.

Extraits

[...] It is part of the Danish culture. To sum up, the Danish Labour market has some particularities which create the favourable context to implement the “flexicurity” system: - A densely organised Labour market - Centralised negotiations rounds (with collective agreements) - A consensus-based relation among all actors - A voluntary system with limited regulation via legislation. b. Active employment policy The model of “flexicurity” is universal and employment- oriented[9]. It means that the maximum is done to give the possibility for unemployed people to find a new job shortly after they loose their jobs. [...]

[...] Social protection via the Welfare state a. Heritage of the social system making process through the 20th century The aim of the “flexicurity model” is to reduce the unemployment rate that had increased as a consequence of the crisis of the 1970s, but respecting the social guarantees and the cultural values of solidarity, national pride and social trust of the Danish society. It is clear that the reforms, to be imagined and accepted, must not sacrifice the social model that has been built through Danish history. [...]

[...] There is an intervention of the state in this process only when agreement has not been reached. On the Labour market, there are mostly regulations via collective conventions and negotiated agreements. The consensus is favored by the action of mainly two major trade-unions for employers and employees (LO). There are also two other federations (FTF and AC) for employees. The relations between the state and these Labour organisations are based on a voluntary bargaining system that provides a large professional autonomy[4], for instance a freer incentive for employers to hire without having too heavy charges and strict rules on layoff. [...]

[...] Indeed, the consensual atmosphere between the different groups of the society is a typical symbol of the Danish model. Every parts concerned are involved in the different steps of the discussion before the Parliament or the government takes the decision. Both employers' and employees' groups influence the final decisions that are passed by the political institutions. The reform of social policy is as an answer to changing economy, social structures and political mobilisation. The reform aims to a universal model that corresponds to all interests. [...]

[...] Mogens Lykketoft, The Danish Model, a European success story Mogens Lykketoft, The Danish Model, a European success story Joakim Palme, The Nordic model and the modernisation of social protection in Europe Mogens Lykketoft, The Danish Model, a European success story Henning Jörgensen, Consensus, cooperation and conflict, the policy making process in Denmark, 2002. [...]