Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks during a news conference on the coronavirus disease outbreak, at her office in Copenhagen April 6, 2020. ― Handout via Reuters
Those who found themselves out of work could rely on generous unemployment benefits combined with plentiful retraining programmes to get the skills needed to land a new job.But the coronavirus crisis is not one of adapting to market changes. Denmark, like many other countries, ordered many businesses to shut down to stem the spread of Covid-19.
To encourage firms to not let go their employees, the government is compensating firms for 75 percent of wages of up to €4,000 per month .One business which has taken up the state's offer is electrician Hornbaek El-forretning, in the city of Randers in western Denmark. Thanks to the programme, nine of 27 employees were furloughed, but Tind expects to call them back to work as Denmark gradually loosens its confinement restrictions from April 15.Around 20,000 companies have already applied for the programme, which will remain in place until June 9.
Before the crisis, the country was near to full employment with an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, the lowest in over a decade.