Reform puts pressure on the unemployed and weakens the Danish model

Major savings in the employment system risk making life more difficult for the unemployed and undermining the Danish model, warns Dansk Metal. Dansk Metal writes this in a press release.

- When you implement a reform whose primary purpose is to save money, it is difficult to imagine that the effort will be better. The unemployed are deprived of many of their rights, while the municipalities are at the same time released from obligations. Therefore, the name of the municipality will now be decisive for what effort you can expect when you lose your job. With this reform, we are leaving more unemployed people on the platform with the responsibility of finding their own homes, says Chief Treasurer of Dansk Metal John Larsen.

He warns that the Danish model is based on a balance between flexibility, security and an active employment effort - and that the reform challenges this very balance.

In the agreement, the government has chosen to only extend the unemployment insurance funds' responsibility for contact with the unemployed by one month in a trial scheme. According to Dansk Metal, this is a step in the right direction, but far from sufficient.

- It is positive that in future more people can be content with being in contact with the unemployment insurance fund, but it is disappointing that the government and the parties to the agreement have not seized the opportunity to give the unemployment insurance funds a greater and more permanent responsibility. There is undoubtedly a large untapped potential, and therefore there should be no doubt that we are ready to take on an even greater responsibility than just four months, says John Larsen.

However, there are also points in the reform that Dansk Metal welcomes. Among other things, the right to education for unemployment benefit recipients is maintained, and the so-called 110 percent education boost is expanded slightly.

- I am pleased that the government and the parties to the agreement have listened to our concerns and have removed the savings on education for the unemployed. We know that education is one of the best tools for getting unemployed people into jobs, and it may cost a little in the short term, but it will pay off many times over, says John Larsen.

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