Denmark to abolish job centres in overhaul of unemployment system
Denmark’s new government plans to abolish the country’s municipal job centres, where people who receive unemployment benefits are regularly required to attend.
The job centres will be closed to give people not in employment more freedom and to allow municipalities more autonomy in their programmes to bring residents into the labour market, the government says.
The agreement for the new coalition government, presented on Wednesday, confirmed the plan to abolish job centres.
READ ALSO: KEY POINTS: What are the main policies of the new Danish government?
“We are closing down job centres. This is the end of cancer patients being chased around in municipalities in employment schemes that don’t work,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during Wednesday’s press briefing to present the government’s platform.
According to the agreement, the new government wants unemployed people to return to work more quickly than is currently the case and wants to cut spending on the area by 3 billion kroner by 2030.
The deal could mean that the membership-based unemployment insurance providers, A-kasser, and private companies play a larger role for people who are out of work for shorter periods.
READ ALSO: A-kasse: Everything foreigners in Denmark need to know about unemployment insurance
“The remainder of the unemployment work should place higher priority on members of the public who have more difficulty finding a job,” the government agreement states.
“They will, instead, be encompassed by more dignified schemes with greater effects. Social welfare fraud will be met with a hard and notable consequence,” it states.
Abolition of job centres was a key election policy of the Liberal party, which has criticised them for being inefficient and a drain on resources.
Several thousand people in Denmark have received the basic form of unemployment benefit, kontanthjælp, for several years, news wire Ritzau writes.
Currently, 5 billion of the national budget of 12 billion for employment schemes is spent on job centres.
An analysis by the A-kasse Ase recently found that the centres have a “record” number of staff, during a time of historically low unemployment in Denmark.
Comments
See Also
The job centres will be closed to give people not in employment more freedom and to allow municipalities more autonomy in their programmes to bring residents into the labour market, the government says.
The agreement for the new coalition government, presented on Wednesday, confirmed the plan to abolish job centres.
READ ALSO: KEY POINTS: What are the main policies of the new Danish government?
“We are closing down job centres. This is the end of cancer patients being chased around in municipalities in employment schemes that don’t work,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during Wednesday’s press briefing to present the government’s platform.
According to the agreement, the new government wants unemployed people to return to work more quickly than is currently the case and wants to cut spending on the area by 3 billion kroner by 2030.
The deal could mean that the membership-based unemployment insurance providers, A-kasser, and private companies play a larger role for people who are out of work for shorter periods.
READ ALSO: A-kasse: Everything foreigners in Denmark need to know about unemployment insurance
“The remainder of the unemployment work should place higher priority on members of the public who have more difficulty finding a job,” the government agreement states.
“They will, instead, be encompassed by more dignified schemes with greater effects. Social welfare fraud will be met with a hard and notable consequence,” it states.
Abolition of job centres was a key election policy of the Liberal party, which has criticised them for being inefficient and a drain on resources.
Several thousand people in Denmark have received the basic form of unemployment benefit, kontanthjælp, for several years, news wire Ritzau writes.
Currently, 5 billion of the national budget of 12 billion for employment schemes is spent on job centres.
An analysis by the A-kasse Ase recently found that the centres have a “record” number of staff, during a time of historically low unemployment in Denmark.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.