ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter focuses on the labour markets in the Nordic countries. Two central questions are raised: 1) Can we identify a generic Nordic labour market model? If so, 2) how has it been influenced by the European Union (EU)? The Nordic countries – Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland – are renowned for having a number of similarities in how their respective societies are organised. This is also the case in relation to the labour market. One of these similarities is the high rate of women’s labour market participation. The rate of female workforce participation in all of the Nordic countries is almost equal to that of men. Another common characteristic of the Nordic societies is the high levels of trade union membership compared to the rest of Europe. These and other similarities will be discussed in greater detail in this chapter. Another major theme in this chapter is how EU cooperation in labour market policy areas has developed over the past 20 years and how it has influenced the Nordic labour market and the Nordic labour market model. What kind of challenges confront the Nordic countries, both separately and together? One of the challenges discussed below relates to the movement of labour and migration within Europe. Some of the Nordic countries, such as Norway, have experienced a major increase in the number of foreign workers in their domestic labour markets, with workers coming especially from the former Eastern European countries. In certain industries, the entry of new workers has challenged the existing collective bargaining systems and has led to allegations of ‘social dumping’ among certain groups of employees. It is important to note that this chapter distinguishes between the ‘Nordic labour market model(s)’ and the ‘Nordic labour market’, as such. When we talk about the ‘Nordic labour market model(s)’ (or the Danish or Swedish labour market model), we refer to the regulatory system or regime that regulates the labour market. Using the term ‘model’ indicates that we are talking about a certain governance structure that governs how wages, working conditions and employment relations are determined in the Nordic countries. It corresponds to what is referred to in the international literature as ‘system of employment relations’ or ‘system of industrial relations’. Key elements in such a national system
of industrial relations are actors such as trade unions, employers’ associations, governments and institutions such as collective bargaining structures or different forms of legislation. When we talk about the ‘Nordic labour market’ (or the Danish or Swedish labour market), the focus is on what characterises the labour market as such. This involves factors such as the levels of female labour market participation, as mentioned above, or unemployment levels. Industrial relations literature and the understanding of the systems of industrial relations are very much embedded in institutional theory as it is conceptualised in this book (DiMaggio and Powell 1983; March and Olsen 1984; Pierson and Skocpol 2002). Fundamentally, industrial relations theory argues that organisations and institutions such as trade unions, employer’s associations and collective bargaining systems ‘matter’ in the sense that they can contribute to the explanation of labour market characteristics. Labour markets are embedded and constituted by industrial relations institutions. In that respect, the focus in this chapter is on analysing labour market institutions in the Nordic countries and how they are challenged by the EU integration. The next section describes the general characteristics of the Nordic labour market models. The third section provides a brief overview of the trends in EU labour market policy development. In the fourth section, I identify some of the major challenges that European integration poses to the Nordic countries with respect to the Nordic labour market and the Nordic labour market model(s). The fifth section offers some conclusions.
