News in Digest: The Danes have never had it so good

Belle époque beckoning for the Danish people

Stephen Gadd

British PM Harold Macmillan famously remarked that “most of our people have never had it so good” in 1957 – and the same today could be said of Denmark, where record employment figures, a 2.2 percent rise in GDP and a 9,200 kroner increase in average income have all been recently confirmed.

Record numbers employed
With a record 2,728,800 people in employment at the end of January – an increase of 187,900 since September 2012 – the Danmarks Statistik figures exceed those recorded before the financial crisis, while GDP has hit its highest level since 2006.

In the private sector, 6,500 more people managed to get jobs during January – and in total, 127,100 more private sector jobs have been created since the government came to power in the summer of 2015.

To help avoid a labout shortage, the government has set aside 92 million kroner so that workers can upgrade their qualifications in fields where there is an especially high demand.

Foreign labour focus
And the state also wants to make it easier for companies to obtain suitably-qualified foreign labour – which is good news for IT startups in Copenhagen.
The companies are suffering due to difficulties created by the current visa regulations, which require non-EU workers to earn at least 35,000 kroner per month.

The business minister, Brian Mikkelsen, has said he would like to reduce the amount that a suitable candidate from outside the EU needs to earn in order to get a residence and work permit.

Fewest self-employed
The private sector is key, as Denmark has the lowest self-employment rate in the EU, with just 7.5 percent aged 18-64 during the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Danmarks Statistik. Greece topped the list with almost 30 percent.

With 92.2 percent, Denmark had the biggest share of regular employees, and it also had one of the highest employment frequency rates (74.6 percent), trailing only Sweden, Germany, Estonia and the Netherlands. The EU average was 68.1 percent.

The Danes were also well ahead of the EU curve when it came to the share of the population being wage-earners with 68.7 percent. Only Sweden and Germany scored higher, and the EU average was at 58.2 percent.

Pressure to be 24/7
In other employment news, 35 percent of Danes who are capable of working away from the office feel that this creates extra pressure and a feeling they have to be available 24/7, according to a survey carried out by Blauw Research and Survey Sampling International.

An analysis carried out by Dansk Byggeri reveals that if Danes could save five minutes on their daily journey to and from work it would increase GDP by more than 6 billion kroner a year.

The biotech company Genmab is on the verge of confirming it needs to employ another 100 workers this year, reports Berlingske Business – primarily to work on the company’s pipeline.

And finally, the civil registration system, the CPR Register, has celebrated its 50th birthday. It was launched on 2 April 1968 – the same day Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ was released.

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