Farewell flexicurity? Danish flexicurity and the crisis
Bredgaard, Thomas ; Madsen, Per Kongshøj
Transfer. European Review of Labour and Research
2018
24
4
November
375-386
flexicurity ; unemployment ; economic recession ; labour market
Social policy
https://doi.org/10.1177/1024258918768613
English
Bibliogr.
"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."
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