Economy, Labor

More than half the total Danish population is employed, with 70 percent of the labor force working in the service sector and 27 percent engaged in manufacturing, construction, and mining. Women make up 46 percent of the workforce. In the 1960s and 1970s the country suffered severe shortages of skilled workers. Most skilled workers, technicians, and handicraft workers are union members. The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions had about 1.5 million members in more than 23 principal affiliated unions in the early 1990s.