Catherwood LibraryILR School

Europe needs to create "good jobs and fair conditions," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday as the EU's executive arm promised guidelines for more flexible labor laws to promote job growth. But Merkel acknowledged that the latest buzzword for the blend of flexible job markets and social security ? the "flexicurity" model of pliant hiring and firing practices found in Denmark ? is understood differently by different groups. Employers and trade unions almost immediately proved her point, with the leader of Europe's major business lobbying group BusinessEurope, Ernest-Antoine Selliere, highlighting the Nordic countries' success as demonstrating "the benefits of relying less on labor law instruments and more on education and training to ensure worker protection."