ASTK15369U COURSE: The Danish Labour Market in International Perspective

Since the nineties, the institutions and practices of the Danish labour market have been in focus worldwide. The reason is simple: In spite of all conventional wisdom, the Danish unemployment rate dropped more than ten percentage points from 1993 to 2007 (rising again during the Financial Crisis), while at the same time inflation has been low and stable. The key to this enigma is often claimed to be the Danish flexicurity model of the labour market. This famed model consists of three elements, often called “The Golden Triangle”: Flexibility for employers to hire and fire labourers, security for labour force participants by means of generous unemployment benefits, and an active labour market policy on the part of the state and local governments. This course will provide an insight into the functioning and the contemporary challenges of the flexicurity model: How do actors of the model cope with recession, international migration and other problems? Also, some comparative studies of labour markets in other countries will be included. As the course will start with some basics of labour market theory, no previous knowledge in the field is required.

Content

The course will be in five parts:

1. Theory of labour market policy
2. History and institutional properties of the Danish labour market and comparisons with labour markets of other countries
3. Contemporary challenges of labour markets, including globalisation and demographic shifts
4. Labour market reform in Denmark and other countries since 1994
5. Selected issues like discrimination, international migration, transnational companies and corporate social responsibility, chosen by the students

There will be good opportunities for the students to influence the course details and the teaching.