Flexibility’s New Clothes: A Historical Perspective on the Public Discussion in Sweden

The European Commission recently introduced the concept of ‘flexicurity’ as a way of combining European competitiveness with the European social model. In this context, Denmark appears as the role model for flexible labour market policy. This model seems to solve the problem that certain types of employment, such as part-time and fixed-term jobs, considered important for the flexibility of labour markets, also harbour risks of permanent market segmentation. Interestingly, current ideas about flexibility echo discussions in Sweden 50 years ago. Historically, Sweden’s public discussion of flexibility has changed, from the 1950s’ focus on labour market flexibility and general, rational labour market functioning, through the 1970s’ employee flexibility regarding working hours, to the 1990s’ flexibility in favour of employers. This shift may have occurred because a managerial perspective took over the flexibility concept from labour and the labour unions. Therefore in Sweden, the concept of freedom of choice has become increasingly attached to the neo-liberal agenda, although it was previously used in trade union rhetoric.