Wrap-up slides

• The Danish labor market

model
• Immigration
• Gender equality
• Danish industry structure

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 The ingredients of the flexicurity+ model:
1. Flexible hiring and firing rules  ability to adjust
to changes in demand rapidly
2. Income security  relatively generous

The Danish labor

unemployment benefits (we have been through
several reforms over the past decade)

market model 3. Active labor market policies  the glue that

sticks it together; to help and incentivize
transition back into employment (we have seen that
there might also be negative short-term effects)
Based on a right & duty principle and strong
emphasis on getting unemployed into employment
(high sense of social responsibility and high labor
market participation needed to sustain the welfare
state)

Collective bargaining: long tradition of organized

bargaining between workers and employers
(dates back to the September Agreement of 1899)
• High union membership, though declining 
according to skills or education, no relation to
employer
• The government generally plays a passive role in
collective negotiations (and no minimum wage
 Increasing share of immigrants and descendants as % of the total
population since 1983 (shift in the origin of immigrants)

Immigration (who) versus integration (how) policies

Immigration • From relatively liberal to relatively restrictive integration

policy (we discussed the evolution of dispersal policies,
integration program, and social benefits for refugees)
• Empirical evidence on integration policies
• Dispersal policies may lead to worse labor market
outcomes
• On-the-job training enables some refugees if taking place
early on but also crowd-out effects
• Language training is beneficial for long-term labor market
outcomes (crowd-out effects in the short-run)
• Cutting welfare benefits helps transition into employment
for some (conditional on local labor demand) but comes with
unintended criminality effects and withdrawal of women

Are the Danes more and more opposed to foreigners?

• According to World Value Survey, Danes’ skepticism towards
foreigners has been rather stable over time, though at a
relatively high level; high social trust is easier to achieve in
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homogeneous societies
• Immigration became a heavily politicized topic; minority
 Paradox 1: Among top countries on multiple
gender equality indicators (e.g. labor market,
education, financial inclusion) but doing poorly re.
share of women in board and managerial

Gender equality positions

Paradox 2: Perception of gender equality in
leadership positions > Realized gender equality
in leadership positions
 we discussed reasons behind this, e.g. gender inequality
vs individual choice, the impact of being frontrunner on
some structural parameters, and difficulty in admitting
one’s own bias – even unconscious

Danish Leaky Pipeline, possible explanations:

• Educational choices
• Different aspiration levels
• Gender roles re. family decisions (including attitudes,
parental leaves, household and caregiving responsibilities)
• Network connections (or lack thereof)
• Bias in recruitment and promotion
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Is it only a gender issue or could it also be a

majority/minority issue? (we saw empirical evidence of
microaggressions experienced by minorities, disregarding
gender)
 Importance of public sector
• Danish welfare state
• Hospitals, education, childcare, Employment
Danish industrial •
roads, residential care, defense
Productivity lower than in the
structure private – but not responsible for
the same types of
Private Public
activities/services

Some factors influencing industry structure -

and changes thereof
• Factor endowments, demand, technological
Primary sector endowment, institutional factors,
• On a declining trend  today accounting for 2% of globalization
GVA
• Experienced substantial productivity increase
Secondary sector
Analysis of six sectors
Topics Denmark [insert country name]
The industry’s contribution to
the economy (e.g.,
• Inverted U-path  today accounting for 23% of GVA • Agriculture employment, contribution to
GDP, etc.)
The current state of the
• Food & Beverages industry (e.g.,
Tertiary sector growing/declining/stable
• Wholesales & Retail industry, new versus long-
established industry, etc.)
• Tripled its share of GVA today accounting for around • Pharmaceuticals Key players in that industry
Degree of competition
75%
• Financial services Major challenges or
opportunities for the industry
• Textile & Clothing 1-2 characteristics or aspects
of the industry that stand out