Flexicurity (a portmanteau of flexibility and security) is a welfare state model with a pro-active labour market policy. The model is a combination of easy hiring and firing (flexibility for employers) and high benefits for the unemployed (security for the employees). It was first implemented in Denmark by the social democratic prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in the 1990s. Look up Portmanteau word in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that Welfare capitalism be merged into this article or section. ... Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning of the market for labour. ... Contortionist performing Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is an unusual form of acrobatic display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... An 1837 political cartoon about unemployment in the United States. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ... Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (born June 15, 1943) was the Prime Minister of Denmark from January 25, 1993 to November 27, 2001. ... See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from 2000 and 2001. ...

The EU has investigated flexicurity as a possible future European model, mainly because the model has contributed to near-full employment in Denmark with 5% of the population unemployed. Unlike the controversial youth labor laws proposed in France, this law does not discriminate against youth, but rather holds the same expectations for all Danes: if one is unemployed it is required to constantly seek employment or further education in order to receive full benefits. World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... In economics, full employment has more than one meaning. ...

External links

• Newsarticle EurActiv 09-21-2005
• Newsarticle Politiek-digitaal 09-21-2005 (Dutch)
• Essay on Flexicurity, University of Aalborg 2005 (Danish, .pdf)
• Indymedia 2004