Labour markets

Danish nurses still receive 10-20% less in pay than male-dominated professions requiring a similar level of education. There are many contributing factors to unequal pay, but a recent report from the Danish Institute for Human Rights found that one key reason is the effect of the 1969 Public Servant Reform Act which saw nurses and other female-dominated professions placed at a lower pay level. In recent national negotiations, Danish nurses voted ‘no’ to a pay offer of up to 5% which was set to preserve real wages for public workers over the next three years. A citizens' petition to reform the law in respect of many traditionally female professions has also received the requisite 50,000 signatures for it to make it to parliament.

Listen to a podcast on Denmark's collective mindset within education from an historical perspective.

The Nordic countries have seen a number of important changes to their populations since the end of World War II. Perhaps most notable among these are growth, increased diversity, and gradual aging. Labour migration has also played a role and detailed people registers mean that research of all kinds can be undertaken with accessible and wide-ranging data on the Nordic populations.

In 1973, the Social Democrat government introduced an immediate stop to labour immigration because of growing unemployment. Immigration was, however, not a particularly problematic subject in the political and public debate in the 1970s. From the beginning of the 1980s, more refugees came to Denmark, particularly from the Middle East and the Global South, where many countries were ravaged by crises, war and civil conflict. In 1983, the Danish Parliament passed a new Aliens Act that was known as Europe’s most liberal. The large numbers of immigrants that subsequently came to Denmark, together with integration problems, led to parliament passing a number of limitations to the Act in 1980s. At the end of the 1980s, immigration became more important in the political and public debate due to, amongst other things, the Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet) strongly highlighting the issue.

Racial bias of staff at welfare institutions can result in negative outcomes for minority clients. Staff are not only professionals, but also individuals with personal beliefs and values. While the overriding organisational culture may be to give equal services to all clients, the attitude of staff and other work pressures might influence their approach with particularly migrant clients. Recent research recommends combining organisational theory and theory on racial attitudes to illuminate the issue e.g. that increased workload and stress can cause welfare professionals to fall back on perceived stereotypes of clients.

Emigration has been a part of population mobility in the Nordic region for centuries. The numbers were generally very small until the mid-nineteenth century when a wide variety of 'push factors', such as limited farming opportunities, and 'pull factors', such as the promise of cheap or free land, led to mass migration from Norden. In the twenty-first century there has been relatively little out-migration, and it has been confined largely to specific groups such as those moving to other Nordic countries, the EU, or abroad to work.

Along with their trade union counterparts, employer federations have been key players in the negotiation of nationwide agreements on wages and working conditions, as well as contributors to governmental policy formulation. In addition, this collaboration has served at times to obscure the focus of employers’ federations on economic growth and entrepreneurial development through a less restricted capitalism. Nevertheless, fundamental habits of consultation and consensus building were established following the early collective agreements in the first part of 20th century.

Since the 1960s the Nordic countries have been renowned for their high level of gender equality as they have amongst the world’s highest employment and education rates for women. At the same time the Nordic countries also have greater horizontal segregation by sex than the rest of the EU, that is, most women work in different occupations than most men. The gender segregation of labour is often seen as the main reason behind the gender wage gap in the Nordic region. It can also cause talent to go undetected and higher unemployment rates.

The 'labour movement' refers to the network of political, industrial, voluntary, educational and recreational organisations with a socialist or labour ethos. From the late nineteenth century, its aim was to improve living and working conditions for blue-collar workers and their families, and was organised around national trade union confederations. With a broad base of supporters, the labour movement played a crucial role in the success of Social Democratic parties throughout the twentieth century. This allowed for an epochal shift from around 1945 onwards where class differences were reduced as workers gained access to state benefits, higher education and better housing. Since the 1970s, the labour movement has declined. This has been attributed to the challenges of populism and by the left’s focus on other issues, such as feminism and discrimination. Nevertheless, wages and trade unionism (including country-wide negotiations and agreements) still play an important role in the Nordic model.

Trade unions play a more important role in Nordic politics and economics than they do in most other countries. This is largely a result of their organisational success, which has made them key actors in policymaking as well as in collective bargaining.