EVERYONE WANTS to be a little bit Danish. Hygge, a sense of Nordic contentment attained via baking, candles and good company, became the philosophy du jour during lockdown. Danish dramas win garlands, while its comedies contain jokes so enjoyably dark that viewers may worry about finding themselves on a Europol watch list. Even Danish semen has become a booming export, thanks to the country’s combination of liberal rules for donors and reputation as a small nation of tall hunks.
But it is the Danish labour system that attracts the most plaudits. Leftists drool over a model that sees burger flippers in McDonald’s paid the equivalent of $22 per hour. Those on the right marvel that the country has no statutory minimum wage. Instead, employers and stakeholders sit down together and hammer out collective agreements that cover most workers. It is the same in neighbouring Sweden. Employees benefit from wages and benefits that are among the most generous on the continent; employers can hire or fire with ease during boom or bust. Denmark and its Scandi neighbours manage to be both a worker’s paradise and a capitalist’s dream.
Telling Scandinavians how to run a labour market is akin to teaching the French how to bake baguettes. Yet this is the position in which the Nordic countries have found themselves. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, wants all workers to be covered by a minimum wage, whether through national law (as in most of the club) or through...
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