Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Denmark (Ratification: 1970)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Employment trends and active labour market measures. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in October 2011, which includes detailed replies to its 2010 direct request. The Government indicates that it considers it crucial to ensure that as many people as possible maintain their attachment to the labour market and their qualifications, and upgrade their skills. The Danish flexicurity model is being continuously adjusted in connection with the reforms to help increase labour supply and reduce structural unemployment. It contains different schemes that aim to include as many people as possible in the labour market, working towards promoting full employment. The Committee notes that the unemployed, who are entitled to income-related benefits, are offered guidance and qualification enhancement, on the-job training and employment with subsidized wages. It also notes the active labour market measures being taken to decrease structural unemployment, for example, making an effort to find employment despite relatively high public benefits. The long-term employment rate target is 80 per cent by 2020. The Committee notes that the employment rate was 77.8 per cent in 2009 and 76.1 per cent in both 2010 and 2011. The unemployment rate was 6 per cent in 2009 and 7.4 per cent in 2010. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the long-term unemployment (as a share of total unemployment) increased sharply between 2009 and 2010. The Government indicates that action was taken against the “bottlenecks” on the Danish labour market in both the public and private sectors with a shortage of manpower in 2011. Short-term solutions have been provided on labour supply. The Committee invites the Government to provide further information in its next report on the impact of the reforms to help increase labour supply and reduce unemployment, the incentives provided to work, and the short-term solutions affecting the labour supply both in the short term and long term. It further invites the Government to continue providing information on the action taken against the bottlenecks on the labour market along with an evaluation of this action.

Measures taken in response to the global crisis. The Government indicates its focus on gathering evidence about the active labour market measures as to which schemes are effective for the unemployed. The National Labour Market Authority collected information through random controlled experiments. In these experiments, unemployed people were divided into two groups – i.e. “the control group” and “the other group”. The results from these experiments indicate that structural unemployment decreased due to the probability of an increase in exiting unemployment following the early and intensive meetings with case workers. The results also indicate a high frequency of counselling sessions and temporary subsidized employment in private firms. The Committee also notes that a short education programme is provided for the unemployed. Other active labour market measures include initiatives (announced by the Minister of Employment in January 2010) to help employers and people at risk of unemployment, the Action Plan on long-term unemployment (2010), flexible employment, an Active Labour Market Effort That Works (2010), and two political agreements with the social partners to strengthen the municipalities’ financial incentives to improve efficiency of their employment policies with an increased emphasis of on-the-job training. The Committee invites the Government to provide more details on the employment schemes implemented by the National Labour Market Authority for unemployed people in the “control group” and “other group”, and statistics on those employed as a result thereof. The Committee also invites the Government to provide information and results on the steps provided in the individual action plans to return to employment under the abovementioned initiatives.

Regional development. The Committee notes that the partnership agreements have helped to create more coherence between national, local and regional efforts for growth and business development. The local and regional actors have the knowledge on specific challenges in each municipality or any region and can target specific local and regional issues. The regional partnership agreements contain initiatives that include, but are not limited to, training, education, labour supply and better growth conditions for new and small enterprises. The Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority (DEACA) and six regional growth forums cooperate on concrete activities that can strengthen the evaluation and monitoring of regional initiatives. The benchmarking system in the website is being continuously developed to compare efforts and results across municipalities and regions. The Committee invites the Government to provide an evaluation of the implementation of the common goals established between the central government and regional growth forums. It also invites the Government to continue to provide information on the activities carried out by the DEACA and the six regional growth forums strengthening the evaluation and monitoring of the regional initiatives.

Means to promote employment among older workers. The Committee notes that the Welfare Agreement introduced two new opportunities for unemployed people over the age of 55, namely the wage subsidy scheme in private enterprises and the senior job scheme in the municipalities. The wage subsidy scheme expires on 1 January 2013. The Committee invites the Government to provide an evaluation of the results from these two schemes under the Welfare Agreement, particularly in terms of increasing employment opportunities for older workers.

Workers with disabilities. The Committee notes that the Government has not yet finished implementing and evaluating all the initiatives under the Strategy “Disabled and work – It is possible”. The three specific goals for the Strategy are: (a) the percentage of companies that hire persons with disabilities must increase with five percentage points before 2012; (b) five percentage points of enterprises more than today must be comfortable with working together with a person with a mental illness; and (c) 15 per cent of people on an early retirement pension shall participate in a discussion at the job centre concerning the possibility to come back into work. The Committee invites the Government to provide more information on the impact of the initiatives of the Strategy, including the percentage of persons with disabilities who are employed in the open labour market as a result of this Strategy.

Recruitment of foreign labour. The Committee notes that in January 2011, the four branches of the International Citizens Services (ICS) were established to assist foreign employees and jobseekers with their establishment, recruitment and retention in Denmark. The Government established a working group with the participation from social partners, ministries, companies and NGOs to explore new ways to attract highly qualified labour from outside Denmark. The Committee invites the Government to provide an evaluation of the impact of the measures taken to facilitate the insertion of foreign workers into the labour market. The Committee would also find it helpful to access further information on how the ICS and local companies help foreign employees and jobseekers in Denmark.

Education and training policies. The Committee notes that the Government aims to have at least 95 per cent of all pupils in education and training complete their education by 2015. It notes that step-wise qualifications were introduced to meet the continuing demands of the labour market. The number of training places reduced in 2008. Based on the “Agreement on future prosperity and welfare and investments in the future”, the Government’s 2006 strategy has been gradually implemented between 2007 and 2012. The adult education and continuing training aims to increase the number of adult participants in reading, writing and mathematics courses up to 40,000 per year. The National Centre for Knowledge and Information on Prior Learning (established in 2009) was evaluated in 2009–10 which indicated the need for both non-formal and informal learning, and that there are more people enrolled in adult education and training. The National Qualification Framework (NQF) for lifelong learning was adopted and implemented in 2010 with the referencing of the Danish NQF to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) successfully completed in 2011. Youth unemployment increased from 11.2 per cent in 2009 to 13.8 per cent in 2010. The youth NEET rate (i.e. persons neither in employment nor in any education and/or training) was 5.2 per cent in 2009. According to the OECD, the employment rate among those aged 15–24 dropped from 63.5 per cent in 2009 to 58.1 per cent in 2010. The overall employment rate declined from 85.1 per cent in 2009 to 83.2 per cent in 2010 among those aged 25–54. The Government aims to increase the number of practical training places for young people to prevent long-term unemployment. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing information on the impact of these measures to encourage young persons to obtain sustainable employment and the precise statistics on the unemployment and employment rates of young persons after education and training.