TY - JOUR

T1 - The embedded flexibility of Nordic labor market models under pressure from EU-induced dualization

T2 - The case of posted work in Denmark and Sweden

AU - Arnholtz, Jens

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - While many coordinated market economies have responded to internationalization by regulation that creates dualization between insiders and outsiders, the Nordic countries have opted for an embedded flexibilization in which strong unions and cooperative employers have combined flexibility and equality. However, in recent years, the Nordic countries have come under pressure from an EU-induced dualization that has institutionalized mobile low-wage workers as an outside group. This article presents case studies of how Denmark and Sweden have responded to these challenges. While political processes have been different in the two countries, pressure from EU regulation and changes in employers' incentive to compromise implies that there is now a specific category of low-wage workers in both countries' otherwise egalitarian labor markets. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on dualization by highlighting the pressure coming from EU regulation rather than national policy.

AB - While many coordinated market economies have responded to internationalization by regulation that creates dualization between insiders and outsiders, the Nordic countries have opted for an embedded flexibilization in which strong unions and cooperative employers have combined flexibility and equality. However, in recent years, the Nordic countries have come under pressure from an EU-induced dualization that has institutionalized mobile low-wage workers as an outside group. This article presents case studies of how Denmark and Sweden have responded to these challenges. While political processes have been different in the two countries, pressure from EU regulation and changes in employers' incentive to compromise implies that there is now a specific category of low-wage workers in both countries' otherwise egalitarian labor markets. The article, thus, contributes to the literature on dualization by highlighting the pressure coming from EU regulation rather than national policy.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - dualization

KW - European Union

KW - labor market regulation

KW - Nordic countries

KW - posting of workers

U2 - 10.1111/rego.12461

DO - 10.1111/rego.12461

M3 - Journal article

VL - 17

SP - 372

EP - 388

JO - Regulation and Governance

JF - Regulation and Governance

SN - 1748-5983

ER -