Sentence examples for flexicurity from inspiring English sources

It pays for it with one of the highest tax rates on labour income in the world one many other European countries, with much higher unemployment rates, could not afford.For America, which currently spends a mere 0.16% of GDP on such "active" labour-market policies, the idea of Danish-style "flexicurity" is more a slogan than a serious suggestion.

"One of the most popular entertainments in Denmark", says Mr Mogensen, the historian, "is to spot the latest left-wing politicians to send their children to private school .In the workplace Denmark is a pioneer of flexicurity: companies can sack employees with almost American ease but the government provides displaced workers with generous benefits and helps them get new jobs.

To ensure this does not deter people from finding new jobs, the Danes oblige the unemployed to be trained and to look diligently for work.The European Union is urging its members to follow the "flexicurity" model.

And in parts of eastern and central Europe as few as 30% of jobless citizens receive significant welfare payments (though the coverage is broader in Slovenia and the Czech Republic).The third and biggest threat to flexicurity is that it will prove politically costly to defend if unemployment takes off.

The tough love of Danish "flexicurity" has won special praise in recent years, thanks to its apparent success at protecting workers (with things like welfare payments and government retraining schemes), rather than the jobs they currently hold (it is rather easy to hire and fire Danes).Three years on, at least one country from each of Professor Sapir's four groups is in serious trouble.

Latest estimates suggest that 34,000 private-sector jobs will be created this year.The government cannot take all the credit, but many economists fulsomely praise "flexicurity"—a peculiarly Danish blend of a flexible labour market, generous social security and an active labour-market policy with rights and obligations for the unemployed.

About a fifth of Danish workers lose their job in any given year but most find a new job quickly.Related items The Swedish model: Admire the best, forget the restSep 7th 2006Although flexicurity is much admired abroad, it is not necessarily easy to copy.

The Danish system of flexicurity puts too much emphasis on security and not enough on flexibility.

The Danish system of "flexicurity" appears to offer the best of both worlds: dynamic labour markets and low unemployment coupled with generous support for those who lose their jobs.Denmark has a long history of weak job protection.

Some, like Denmark's pricey "flexicurity", look tailor-made for a globalised world thanks to their focus on supporting and retraining individual workers, not protecting jobs.Politicians should not skate over risks (to be fair, in his 1957 speech, even Mr Macmillan confessed to worrying: "is it too good to last?").

If the crisis drags on or deepens, he frets that governments may have to choose between draconian cuts in welfare and fiscal irresponsibility.The second threat involves cohesion, and the different things that flexicurity means.