The flexibility of flexicurity: The Danish model reconsidered

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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.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEconomic and Industrial Democracy
Volume32
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)721-737
Number of pages17
ISSN0143-831X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2011

ID: 35104123