Forced paternity leave no solution
Setting aside 12 weeks of paternity leave for men will not be enough to encourage new fathers to take more time off work in connection with their children’s birth, according to the employment minister, Mette Frederiksen (Socialdemokraterne). Her comments came the same day as the government announced it would not pursue its goal of earmarking more of the 52-week paid paternity leave period for men. Currently two weeks are reserved for men, but Frederiksen said families’ financial realities make it difficult for some men to take leave and the government fears that if new fathers don't take the earmarked leave, the parents' combined time off to care for their new child will be shorter. Instead the government said men who take more than six weeks of leave will receive 100 kroner a day, tax-free, for up to six additional weeks. – DR Nyheder

“Disappointing” paternity about face
Unions say they are disappointed by the government’s decision not to pursue legislation that would earmark 12 weeks of paternity leave for fathers. Unions said they had documentation that went against the government arguments that fathers were unlikely take the full amount of leave available to them. The employment minister, Mette Frederiksen (Socialdemokraterne), announced yesterday that despite her long-time support for the measure, the government had decided that the current regulations allowing parents to spilt most of the 52 week paid paternity period was best for children, since fathers were less likely to take leave than mothers. The decision by the government also led to criticism from leading MPs within each of the three parties making up the coalition. – Politiken

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Minority students of a feather learning together
As the number of minorities attending upper-secondary school has more than doubled in the past decade, so too has the number of schools with a disproportionately high number of minority students. Minorities now make up 9.3 percent of gymnasium students, but at some schools they make up a third of the student body. Headmasters said the trend was due to students applying to schools that have a high number of students with backgrounds similar to their own. Teachers and education experts underscored that the development was not a problem for education, but it did require a different approach to teaching than in schools with a higher proportion of ethnic Danes. – Jyllands-Posten

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Little support for lower apprentice pay
The libertarian Liberal Alliance party suggests slashing the minimum wage for apprentices as a way to encourage more companies to take on trainees. The current starting monthly pay for apprentices is 10,000 kroner. Liberal Alliance pointed to reports that it costs companies twice as much to hire apprentices as it does in Germany and Austria. Some 13,000 vocational students lack an apprenticeship and studies have shown this is one of the main reasons why students drop out of vocational school. The proposal was rejected by Liberal Alliance’s allies as well as employers and unions. Business lobby Dansk Industri said most of its companies do not have enough work at the moment to give apprentices meaningful tasks. – Jyllands-Posten

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Execs: wake up and smell the competition
Danish executives working abroad say the government needs to do redouble its efforts to improve competitiveness in order to meet the challenges posed by emerging economies. The executives said that neither the public nor lawmakers were aware of the seriousness of the challenge. Despite their support for the Danish welfare state, the executives felt too little was being done for businesses. Some companies, such as kitchenware producer Bodum, said that even though it planned to move some manufacturing back to Europe, it was not considering returning to Denmark. “In Denmark wages are too high,” Jørgen Bodum, the company’s managing director, said. – Børsen

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