Labour Market Security in Denmark

There is no agreement in the literature about the consequences of security on working life, individual and workplace performance. In parts of the labor market literature, it is argued that too much security can lead to restlessness, habitual thinking and stagnation, while others argue that too much insecurity leads to job dissatisfaction and stress.
Previous studies indicate that Danish employees generally experience a high degree of security and well-being in working life. The feeling of security is supported by certain institutions, e.g., the unemployment benefit system providing income security and adult vocational training systems that provides employability and future career opportunities.
However, the labour market is undergoing major transformations. New types of employment relationships are spreading (platform work, atypical employment etc.) and new technologies are emerging (Chat GPT, artificial intelligence, automatisation etc.). Acquired qualifications are quickly becoming obsolete, new job are emerging and old jobs are disappearing.
In this article, we examine the feeling of security in the Danish work force. The data consists of a Danish survey among the adult population (18-67 years) collected between May-July 2023. The data includes more than 12.000 respondents in various work life situations (wage earners, self-employed, freelance workers, temp agency workers, unemployed etc.). The survey measures subjective experiences of various types of securities (job security, employment security, income security).