Municipalities neglect jobless

The number of low-resource unemployed persons is growing steadily, but the municipalities are helping them less, according to an analysis of new figures from the Danish Labour Market Authority by Ugebrevet A4.

An additional 15,000 people have joined the ranks of cash benefit recipients in the past three years. Meanwhile, the number of cash benefit recipients in municipal activation programmes has fallen by half. Thus, more than 40,000 cash benefit recipients are not currently in a municipal activation programme.

According to Thomas Bredgaard, associate professor at the Centre for Labour Market Research at Aalborg University, this means that fewer people will find jobs.

The Danish Association of Social Workers believes that the municipalities are neglecting low-resource unemployed persons.

"The statistics reflect the lack of appropriate programmes for the most disadvantaged jobless people," said association chair, Majbrit Berlau.

She would like to see low-resource unemployed persons assigned a single social worker and a single plan for getting them back to work, instead of the multiple social workers and various authorities that must currently be contacted.

The municipalities have rejected the claim that they are neglectful, however, pointing fingers instead at the Danish Parliament, which has made cuts in this area.

"We are getting less and less money for these activities from the Danish Parliament. We are doing our best within the given framework," said Ole Pass, chair of the Association of Municipal Social, Health and Job Market Managers in Denmark.

The government recognises that efforts to help low-resource unemployed persons have been inadequate. The issue will be addressed this spring in negotiations on a coming cash benefit reform.