It?s tough to be out of a job when you really want one however, that being said, Denmark isn’t the worst place to be long-term unemployed.

This can be seen from a new analysis prepared by AE, (the Economic Council of the Labour Movement), which, based on the figures from Eurostat, have examined how many of the unemployed in the EU?s member states have been jobless for more than a year.

The highest rate is found in Greece with 73.7% who are stille unemployed after one year. Denmark takes a leading place with the lowest rate at 19.4 %, immediately followed by Sweden.

?This shows that the Danish flexicurity model works, but we still have challenges in terms of finding work for those who are on the margins of the labour market and who have not been met with the right initiatives, including company-based offers. Here, we have had a tendency to provide activation courses that are not targeted towards the labour market? says AE?s chief economist, Erik Bjørsted.

Erik Bjørsted calls the Danish model ?a bumblebee? which manages to fly i spite of its size, among others because “we remember to keep the unemployed active? and ask something of them. However, we have also reached a limit to how much the unemployment benefit period and benefits can be cut. In Germany, which has one of Europe?s lowest unemployment figures, 40% of the unemployed, meanwhile, has no job after one year?s unemployment.

Among the long-term unemployed in the EU, the Danish long-term unemployed are the first to find a new job in the quarter following one year?s unemployment. As the only country, this applies to more than 30%.

Minister for employment, Troels Lund Poulsen, points to the flexicurity labour market model as the ?main reason? why the employment efforts are so successful in Denmark.

?We have a very flexible labour market, which is quite unique in comparison to other countries and it makes it easier to hire and fire. This dynamic is possible because there is a high wage compensation rate upon unemployment?, says the Minister. Unemployment benefit, for example, pays DKK 18,000 a month.

He also points to reforms that have been made to unemployment benefits and voluntary early retirement which have contributed to allowing companies to find manpower in spite of relatively low unemployment.

Denmark has the fewest long-term unemployed in the EU

Percentage of the unemployed who are unemployed for more than one year.

Third quarter of 2016.

 

 

This is a translation of the article “Danmark er EU-mester i kort langtidsledighed” written by Martin Flink and reported by online newspaper ?JP. Politiken, Finans? on 9 March 2017 .