Employment relations in Denmark

Adapting to survive: The case of Danish employers' organisations

“…We show that EOs in Denmark—a crucial case of coordinated market economies—have adapted in significant ways to structural pressures known across advanced capitalist economies. Thus, in contrast to scholars who view Denmark as a case of relative stability in corporatist policymaking and collective bargaining (Lindvall & Sebring, ; Madsen, Due, & Andersen, ; Strøby Jensen, Madsen, & Due, ), we show that, beneath this surface stability, Danish EOs have significantly changed both their organisations' structure and function. Our argument relates to Gooberman, Hauptmeier, and Heery () who have recently claimed that conventional studies ignore important organisational adaptation and innovation by national EOs (see also Bennett, ; Martin, ; Sheldon, Nacamulli, Paoletti, & Morgan, ).…”

“…The 2014 estimates by DA set the private sector EO density at 53% (as percentage of employed persons and only including DA and the Financial Sector Employer Association [FA]). This figure has been largely stable over recent decades—in line with studies arguing for stability (Madsen et al, ; Martin & Thelen, ; Strøby Jensen et al, ). A survey from 2010 estimates EO density in the private sector to be 63% of employed persons—the 10 percentage point difference owing to the inclusion of other EOs outside DA and FA (Larsen, Navrbjerg, & Johansen, ).…”

“…Varieties of capitalism scholars have argued that EOs provide certain collective goods, for example, wage bargaining and skill formation, that are essential for employers in some—but not all—industries and that EOs therefore continue to serve a purpose in coordinated market economies (Estevez‐Abe, Iversen, & Soskice, ; Hall & Soskice, ). Comparative political economists studying EOs through an institutionalist lens thus argue (a) that EOs are no longer important in liberal market economies; (b) that EOs in some coordinated market economies, such as Germany, have weakened their coordinating role; and (c) that EOs in coordinated market economies of the Nordics are relatively stable and that changes are path‐dependent (Madsen et al, ; Martin & Thelen, ; Strøby Jensen et al, ). Thus, in the Nordic countries, persistent trade unions and bargaining coverage keep employers organised.…”

“…The other EOs' organise employers within certain industries and trades—except for the Christian Employer's Association, which is also cross sectoral. Ostensibly, the external structural adaptation thus aided the survival of a high degree of employer coordination in policymaking and collective bargaining (Ibsen, ; Madsen et al, ; Martin & Swank, ; Martin & Thelen, 2007; Strøby Jensen et al, ).…”

Right time to join? Organizational imprinting and women's careers in public service organizations

“…Andersen et al. (2021) report that by 2007, around 10% of wage development in the public sector has happened at local levels. This means that individual employees can be rewarded locally as a recognition of their contribution and performance.…”