Back to Work: Denmark
Improving the Re-employment Prospects of Displaced Workers

Job displacement (involuntary job loss due to firm closure or downsizing) affects many workers over the course of their working lives. Displaced workers may face long periods of unemployment and, even when they find new jobs, tend to be paid less than in the jobs they held prior to displacement. Helping displaced workers get back into good jobs quickly should be a key goal of labour market policy. This report is the sixth in a series of reports looking at how this challenge is being tackled in a number of OECD countries. It shows that Denmark has effective policies in place to quickly assist people who are losing their jobs, in terms of both providing good re-employment support and securing adequate income in periods of unemployment. Despite a positive institutional framework, a sound collaboration between social partners and a favourable policy set-up, there is room to improve policies targeted to displaced workers as not every worker in Denmark can benefit from the same amount of support. In particular, workers affected by collective dismissals in larger firms receive faster and better support than those in small firms or involved in small or individual dismissals. Blue-collar workers are also treated less favourably than white-collar workers. More generally, low-skilled and older displaced workers struggle most to re-enter the labour market.
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Job displacement in Denmark and its consequences
This chapter examines the prevalence and consequences of job displacement in Denmark. Although job displacement has a lower incidence in Denmark than the international average, the risk of redundancy increased markedly during the crisis, but returned back to pre-crisis levels shortly thereafter. A large share of laid-off workers gets back to work relatively quickly, but the costs of displacement can be persistent for the most vulnerable groups. Danish laid-off workers face higher earnings losses than their Nordic counterparts and re-employment rates remain below their pre-crisis level, calling for more personalised re-employment support for those most in need.
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