„Within a general trend of decreasing density rates, the differences across countries have remained as large as ever. In 2008 union density varied from 68.8 % in Sweden and 67.6 % in Denmark to 7.6 % in Estonia and 7.7 % in France. In general, the lowest density rates are currently found in the post-Communist countries — Slovenia and Romania are the exceptions — and in southern Europe — where Italy, Malta and Cyprus are the exception. In the EU-15 the highest rates are found in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Belgium. For explanations of these differences, authors have pointed to political and institutional conditions that vary across countries, such as coordinated and multi-employer bargaining, at sector level or higher, versus uncoordinated and single-employer bargaining; the general acceptance and recognition of unions in national and workplace consultation; and union involvement in unemployment insurance (Ebbinghaus and Visser, 1999, for a summary).“

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