“It is troublesome to proceed being a profitable nation in a continent which is challenged rather a lot,” Thomas Bustrup advised Hannah Brown on this episode of The Massive Query.
Within the Worldwide Institute for Administration Improvement’s (IMD) 2024 World Competitiveness Rating, Denmark got here out third.
Singapore and Switzerland took the highest two spots, dethroning Denmark from the prized place in 2022 and 2023.
Regardless of this, it’s nonetheless fairly good going for a rustic in Europe the place one of many key subjects of dialog is the bloc’s dwindling competitiveness.
So what’s their secret?
On this episode of The Massive Query, Deputy Director Normal of the Confederation of Danish Enterprise, Thomas Bustrup, sits down with Hannah Brown to debate the advantages of Denmark’s distinctive labour market.
What’s ‘The Danish Mannequin’?
Denmark has developed a really versatile labour market mannequin which Thomas says has been constructed on “belief” over the previous 100 years.
Usually described as ‘flexicurity’, the system makes it each simple to rent and simple to fireplace folks. This enables companies the agility to pursue extra alternatives as and when it fits them with out the necessity to maintain extra employees in employment in between.
Whereas many nations are in opposition to the straightforward dismissal of employees, this hasn’t had a unfavorable impact on Danish employment charges. In October 2024, the unemployment price in Denmark was 2.9%, considerably decrease than the EU common which was 5.9% in August 2024, in accordance with Eurostat.
The safety a part of the ‘flexicurity’ comes within the type of the nation’s unemployment welfare system.
In Denmark, it’s commonplace to hitch a voluntary unemployment insurance coverage scheme. Members of those schemes can declare unemployment profit for as much as two years, offering they meet the eligibility standards. The profit normally equates to a mean of 57% of earlier earnings.
And while which may not appear sufficient, Thomas is assured it’s not normally a long run resolution anyway.
“The flexibleness signifies that you usually discover a new job in a short time,” Thomas defined.
In truth, in accordance with Danish Nationwide statistics, in Could 2024 lower than 0.36% of the labour pressure had been unemployed for 52 weeks.
Lively Labour Market Programmes (ALMP) are additionally in place to maintain employability up. Round 2% of the Danish labour pressure participates in vocational coaching yearly.
Why is Denmark so aggressive?
Denmark is a pacesetter in clear power.
“Loads of Danish corporations have an excellence in that, and never simply throughout the final years, however inside in all probability 30 or 40 years,” Thomas defined.
“Danish corporations have performed rather a lot within the inexperienced transition and thereby additionally being standard around the globe and never solely in Europe, but in addition within the US and Asia.”
A dependable provide of fresh power retains power costs secure and fewer weak to international volatility.
What threatens to problem its success now, like the remainder of us, is European regulation.
“It is troublesome to proceed being a profitable nation in a continent which is challenged rather a lot,” Thomas mentioned.
“The pace and ease is a large problem additionally for Danish corporations.
“It takes too lengthy and is just too sophisticated which signifies that Danish corporations will search for doing their investments outdoors of Europe and I feel that could be very difficult.”
The Massive Queryis a collection from Euronews Enterprise the place we sit down with business leaders and specialists to debate a number of the most essential subjects on at present’s agenda.
Watch the video above for the complete dialog on Denmark’s competitiveness.
Video editor • Nicolas Coquet