Explanations for wage differences  Remuneration for the tasks of the employee  Remuneration for the skills of the employee  Add-ons due to other circumstances for instance ”market forces”.

Market forces in equal pay practice  Market forces is perceived to be an independent factor influencing a price set by other factors  The market price is perceived to be objectively justified as an external force unrelated to discrimination

Labour Court 2001 nr 13  Two midwifes compared their wages to that of a clinical engineer  Their work was considered to be of equal value  Convincing evidence that the wages paid to midwifes and clinical engineers was in line with other employers’ wages.

Case law of the Labour Court  An employer can always pay market wages (i.e. normal wages).  The Court investigates whether or not the employer has showed due diligence informing itself on the normal wage level.

Calmfors–Richardson, Market forces and wage formation, p. 17. It is not possible to make such a separation. There exist no wage influencing factors operating independently of the labour market, instead the market should be regarded as the mechanism where all other factors are integrated into a prevailing price.”

Thoursie, Why Women earn less, p. 76 ” Discrimination between occupations dominated by men and women occurs to a large extent through market forces. We can not and we ought not to make an attempt to declare market forces illegal. They have to exist to signal changes in supply or demand. But we must become better to distinguish between this necessary signalling system and the signalling system reflecting gender stereotypes.”

Efficiency wage theory 1. The shirking model. 2. The labour turnover model 3. The adverse selection model 4. The sociological model

The sociological model It is rational for the individual employer to adapt to external concepts of just wages even if they are not based on a rational ground.

The sociological model It is rational for the individual employer to adapt to external concepts of just wages even if they are not based on a rational ground.

Labour Court 2001 nr 13  Convincing evidence that the wages paid to midwifes and clinical engineers was in line with other employers’ wages (i.e normal)  Labour Court should ask what kind of market forces created the normal levels to of the two occupations: -Normal because of the necessity to balance supply with demand. -Normal because of the social model of efficiency wage theory.