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Denmark is famous for having a social safety net that makes sure laid-off employees have the skills to get a new job. It's a happy medium between excessive empl

Denmark is famous for having a social safety net that makes sure laid-off employees have the skills to get a new job. It's a happy medium between excessive employee protections and lack of employee protections.

beagle3 9y ago
Safety net is definitely there, but my Dane friends actually told me it’s really bad for small businesses to the point that small businesses won’t hire for desperately needed work because it is impossibly expensive to let anyone go.
- Tehnix 9y ago
  I've never heard anyone express that concern. Rather, I would think the reason why small businesses won't hire would more likely be because the wages are so high here. You can quite easily hire for work for small periods, e.g. summer job style.
- ptaipale 9y ago
  I wonder if you have misunderstood your friends. The Danish system is different from other Nordic countries in that dismissal is quite easy from legal point of view (even if for someone running a small company, it may still be psychologically very difficult). The unemployment benefits are good, although the officials monitoring it also force the unemployed to be quite active to find a new job.
  - beagle3 9y ago
    This was his complaint 10 years ago, from an earlier time (perhaps 20 years ago?) he was considering starting a business. I probably have misunderstood his complaints, as you and Tehnix both point out; I'll reach out to him to get the details right...
    - ptaipale 9y ago
      Perhaps that experience is more than 20 years old. Denmark started to implement a thorough labour market reform in 1990's and coined the term "flexicurity", to denote a system where hiring and firing are extremely simple, but employees have good unemployment benefits and receive active guidance by authorities for re-employment. This has been created since then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity
  - greglindahl 9y ago
    Yes, this unusual Danish system is why I said Denmark -- it's pretty different from the rest of Europe.

beagle3 9y ago

Safety net is definitely there, but my Dane friends actually told me it’s really bad for small businesses to the point that small businesses won’t hire for desperately needed work because it is impossibly expensive to let anyone go.

Tehnix 9y ago
I've never heard anyone express that concern. Rather, I would think the reason why small businesses won't hire would more likely be because the wages are so high here. You can quite easily hire for work for small periods, e.g. summer job style.
ptaipale 9y ago
I wonder if you have misunderstood your friends. The Danish system is different from other Nordic countries in that dismissal is quite easy from legal point of view (even if for someone running a small company, it may still be psychologically very difficult). The unemployment benefits are good, although the officials monitoring it also force the unemployed to be quite active to find a new job.
- beagle3 9y ago
  This was his complaint 10 years ago, from an earlier time (perhaps 20 years ago?) he was considering starting a business. I probably have misunderstood his complaints, as you and Tehnix both point out; I'll reach out to him to get the details right...
  - ptaipale 9y ago
    Perhaps that experience is more than 20 years old. Denmark started to implement a thorough labour market reform in 1990's and coined the term "flexicurity", to denote a system where hiring and firing are extremely simple, but employees have good unemployment benefits and receive active guidance by authorities for re-employment. This has been created since then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity
- greglindahl 9y ago
  Yes, this unusual Danish system is why I said Denmark -- it's pretty different from the rest of Europe.