DOCUMENT RESUME ED 076 822 VT 020 201 AUTHOR Hyman, Julia E. TITLE Labor Law and Practice in Denmark. INSTITUTION Bureau of Labor Statistics (IDOL), Washington, D.C. I REPORT NO BLS-R-390 PUB DATE 72 NOTE 78p. EDRS PRICE MP-80.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Cultural Factors; Economic Factors; *Employment Practices; *Foreign Countries; *Human Resources; Industrial Relations; *Labor Force; Labor Laws; *Labor Legislation; Labor Unions; Politics; Social Factors; Wages; Working Hours IDENTIFIERS *Denmark ABSTRACT This publication was prepared to provide background material for U.S. businessmen and others who may be employing local workers in Denmark, trade union and labor specialists, consulting economists, and students. Incicded is a discussion of: (1) manpower resources and geographic, political, economic cultural, and social factors, (2) the Danish government and legislation affecting labor, (3) labor and management organizations and industrial relations, and (4)-employment conditions, including employment practices, working hours, benefits, wages, workmen's compensations, social insurance, and employee cooperatives (SB) 1 FILMED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY 'IA gr ...if.-- , U S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION ii`, Labor THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- Law DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG. INATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU- and Practice CATION POSITION OR POLICY 2in DENMARK REPORT 310 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James C. Hodgpon, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Osoffrvi H. Moe, Consmariseer 1072 .. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents,U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402Price 704 This report is one ofa series prepared in the Division Conditions, Bureau of Labor of Foreign labor Statistics. The series istiutendedto provide background material forU.S. businessmen and employing local workers others who may be abroad, trade union andlabor specialists,con- sulting economists, andstudents. The report alsowill be useful to persons concerned in more generalways with labor in foreign countries. Source material used to prepare the studyincluded information gathered in the field by theauthor, U.S. Foreign Service tions of the Government reports, publica- of Denmark and of tradeunion and management organizations, and otherprinted sources. Mostof the research completed in January 1971; was a limited amount of additionaldata sub- sequently became availableand has been incorporated. This report was preparedby Julia E.. Hyman, Special the Division Chief. Assistan+ to 1 DI i Contents P.I. Part I. The Country and itsworkers 1 Chapter I. Geographic, political, andeconomic factors Geographic setting 1 Political history and government 1 The national economy Chapter IL Cultural factors 6 Ethnic and linguisticgroups Religion 6 Chapter III. Social factors 6 The nature of the society 7 Education 7 Living conditions 12 Health conditionss Women and children 18 Chapter IV. Manpowerr 14 15 Population and labor supply_ _ ..... _- National service system 15 21 Special characteristics of thelabor force 22 Part II. Government and labor ,- 23 Chapter V. Government_ _ Public administration 23 28 Administrative bodies concerned withlabor 23 Participation in internationalorganizations Chapter VI. Legislation affecting 25 labor 26 Constitutional guarantees Summary of basic labor legislation 26 Enforcement 27 Part III. Labor and management 80 Chapter VII. Labor and managementorganizations Labor organizations 30 International ties SO Management organizations 32 33 ChapterVIIL -Industrial-relations 86 Collective bargaining_ _ _ . _ Settlement of disputes 86 Relations in nonunion enterprises 88 40 Part IV. Conditions of employment . _ _. _ 41 Chapter IX. Employmentpractices Records and reports 41 41 Contents--Continued Pam Part IV. Conditions of employment--Continued Preemployment inquiries Hiring Notice periods and separations Disciplinary actions Chapter X. Hours of work and premiums Hours of work Nightwork Overtime premium Paid leave Periodic rest day premium Holiday premiums Chapter XI. Wages and supplemental payments Base pay Supplemental payments Withholdings and deductions Pay changes Travel and transportation expenses Total compensation and costs Pay period frequency Chapter XII. Health, safety, and workmen's compensation Health and sanitation Safety conditions and required precautions Accident and occupational disease compensation Chapter XIII. Social insurance and employee cooperatives General social insurance system Other insurance and retirement systems Employees cooperatives Appendix: A. ILO Conventions Ratified by Denmark as of January 1971-- 67 Selected bibliography 68 Tables: I. Number of wage earners, value of production and value added by manufacturing, of major manufacturing establishments, 1968 4 2. Population and labor force, by age and sex, April/May 1970 _ 17 8. Labor force by branch of economic activity and industry, April -29;1970 4. Structure of the economically active population, September 27, 1965 19 5. Labor force by occupation and sex, September 27, 1965 20 6. Labor force by class of worker and sex, September 26, 1960, and April 29, 1970 20 7. Labor force by class of worker and industry or occupation, April 29,1970 21 vl ContentsContinued Paw 8. Membership of the Danish Federation of Labor,December 31, 1969 31 9. Average hourly earnings for adult workers inselected indus- tries, July-September 1969 51 10. Average hourly earnings in various occupations andindustries, 1969 52 11. Average money-wages of agricultural employees,1969-70 and 1970-71 53 12. Average wages in manufacturing industries,.-1969 56 Charts: L Danish school system and percentages ofage group in attend- ance, 1967-68 9 2. Distribution of the labor force by branch of economicactivity, 1950,1960, and 1970 vhf PART L THE COUNTRY AND ITSWORKERS Chapter L Geographic, Political, andEconomic Factors Geographic Setting feet above sea level, and the highest pointis only about 500 feet About 90 percent of The Kingdom of Denmark, excluding Green- Jut- land and 99 percent of the island landareas are land and the Faroe Islands,* occupies 16,600 in productive use. square miles, an area about twice the sire of The country has a temperate maritimecli- the State of Massachusetts. It is madeup of mate with comparatively cool almost 500 islands and the peninsula of Jut- summers and mild winters, despite its northerly latitude. Itis land (Jylland), which constitutemore than very windy; prevailing westerly winds blow two-thirds of the total land area and hasa across the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, 42-mile land frontier with West Germany to and moderate the temperature. Cyclonicstorms the south. The most important of the islands with winds frequently stronger than47 knots are: Zealand (Sjaelland), with an area of 2,912 sweep across the Atlantic in all seasons and square miles; Funen (Fyn), 1,344 square are responsible for pronounced day-to-day vari- miles; Lo Hand, 495 square miles; Fa later, 198 ations in the weather. Overcast skiespredom- square miles; and Bornholm, 227 square miles, inate and the air is humid in all months. which is some distance to theeast and almost The climate has little effecton work attendance equi-distant between Sweden and Poland. and performance, except for that resulting The country's water boundariesare the from North Sea on the west, and its respiratory illnesses, whichare prevalent be- arms, the cause of the high humidity and lack ofsun- Skagerrak and the Kattegat, which separate shine. (See Health Conditions.) northern Denmark from Norway and Sweden, The population stood at about t9 millionin respectively; a very narrow strip, the Sound 1969-70. Population density (Oresund), which lies between Zealand was thus about and 300 persona per square mile,or less 'than half the southeretip, of Sweden; and the Baltic that of West Germany (643 including Sea to the southeast. West Berlin) and about one-fourth less thanthat Because of its pivotal position linking the of East Germany (408 including East Berlin), populous nations of continental Europe to Nor- but slightly more than Poland (278)and way, Sweden, and-Finland, Denmark has long several times that of the neighboring Scan- been an important commercial center in north- dinavian countries, Sweden (47) and Norway ern Europe. Its geographic location and its (81). Denmark's population is close ties with the other Scandinavian countries a little greater than that, of the State of Massachusetts,so have led to some migration of workers,the that its population density is about halfthat most significant movement being of Danish of the New England State. workers to Sweden, wherean average of The capital city of Copenhagen (14benhavn), about 19,000 were working in 1967-70. by far the most important business andcom- Denmark is a low-lying country and hasa mercial center, has, with its suburbs,a popula- fiat or undulating landscape. Only about 1per- tion, cent of the land area rises tomore than 800 of about 1.4 million, or over 25 percent of the total population. Five other metropolitan oreenlund and the Faroe Islandsare not covered areas have over 50,000 inhabitante : Arhus, in in this study. eastern Jutland; Odense, in Funen; Alborg- 1 Norresundby and Randers, in northern Jut- among the political parties, to make up for the land; and Esbjerg, in western Jutland. number of votes cast for them and under- represented by constitutency seats. The parlia- Political History and Government