Joint fight against long-term unemployment

Unemployment is at its highest since 2006, and more Danes are unemployed for long periods of time. There is still a relatively low level of long-term unemployment. At the beginning of 2004 there were nearly three times as many long-term unemployed, but today's level is expected to rise because of the economic crisis.

Denmark had some 35,000 long-term unemployed in October 2009 - people who were unemployed for 80 percent of the past year. The same month saw a gross unemployment of nearly 151,000 persons (unemployed plus people on labour market activation schemes). This means less than one in five unemployed is long-term unemployed. 

Long-term unemployment has risen by more than 12,000 persons (some 50 percent) since it started growing at the beginning of 2009. Gross unemployment has risen by some 77,000 persons, or around 103 percent.

Immigrants from non-western countries are so far less affected by the rise in unemployment. Yet a relatively large number of the long-term unemployed are immigrants from non-western countries and their children. The under-30s and older people are also over-represented among the long-term unemployed. There is also a large and slowly growing group of non labour market-ready recipients of unemployment benefits who seem to be stuck in the benefit system.

Long-term unemployment is determined by gross unemployed (unemployed plus people on activation schemes) receiving benefits for 80 percent of the past year. This means the group of long-term unemployed could include people who have been in work at some stage over the past year. 

Source: The Danish Labour Market Agency