The Copenhagen Post: 9 - 15 December

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Special section inside full of handy tips for surving the festive season

9 - 15 December 2011 | Vol 14 Issue 49

Just like her slipper, Cinderella will fit all of our Christmases perfectly

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Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk SCANPIX

NEWS

How old is old enough to vote? A government commission says it’s 16, but not everyone is convinced

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NEWS

Magic mushroom? Danish researchers think they may have found a ‘shroom to beat cancer

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Scandal explodes

SPORT

‘Taxgate’ ensnares former prime minister after Venstre MP flees parliament

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Grab your sticks – a few dedicated players have helped to increase lacrosse’s popularity across Denmark

14 HISTORY

The festive Julekalender TV show has been a Christmas tradition for almost four decades

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Price: 25 DKK

PETER STANNERS New figures show small monthly difference between being on the dole and having a full-time job

A television institution

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New figures show it doesn’t always pay to work

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ECIPIENTS of cash welfare benefits need better incentives to enter the workplace argue politicians and lobby groups after new figures show that having a job does not always pay. The figures from the Employment Ministry reveal that a single parent receiving cash welfare benefits is only 923 kroner better off a month in full-time employment, while those with two children would receive 997 kroner more a month if they found a job. The small benefit from working may well be lower, however, as work related costs, such as transportation, are not included in the calculations. The figures only add to the woes

of the Employment Ministry, which in a Konservative MP, pointed out to the past 18 months has registered 66 metroXpress newspaper. Ellen Trane Nørby, an MP for Venpercent more unemployed people in the category of those least likely to enter the stre, agreed with Behnke’s appraisal. “This is another example of [the govworkforce – category three, or “those ernment] saying one thing and doing outside the workforce”. In response, the employment minis- another,” she told metroXpress. “It’s goter, Mette Frederiksen, proposed several ing to be more expensive to take the bus new measures to reintroduce cash welfare and train and people have to pay more in tax and charges. In that way there’s benefit receivers back into employment. One test initiative would target the less incentive to start work, and 600 krolong-term unemployed – those receiv- ner a month isn’t going to change that.” Frederiksen responded to the critiing cash welfare benefits for at least 47 weeks a year over two years – providing cism arguing that the 600 kroner bonus them with a 600 kroner tax-free bonus needed to be viewed as one of many new proposals. per month if they find employment. “You can either let the numbers grow But the proposal was not well received by all, with some politicians argu- or you can try and tackle it,” Frederiking the wrong group was being rewarded sen told metroXpress. “I want to make it mandatory for under 30s receiving for finding employment. “You are rewarding those who stay benefits to seek education, and I want assessments of those receiving unemployed and don’t enter into em- atougher Organise personal meeting ployment or education,” Tom Behnke, benefits about whether they are available

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for work, because in my eyes being on benefits shouldn’t be an opt-out.” Think tank Cepos also argued that better incentives are needed to get people back into work. “The government should also pass a reform of the entire benefits system in order to ensure that people moving from public assistance to a typical, low-wage, unskilled position gain at least 2,000 kroner a month,” Cepos chief economist Mads Lundby Hansen told The Copenhagen Post (see op-ed on page 8). Prime Minister Helle ThorningSchmidt joined the debate at her weekly press conference on Tuesday, arguing that Denmark’s welfare system needed reform. “If you are a cash welfare benefit recipient you have to be able to take a job from one day to the next,” ThorningSchmidt said. “No-one should be in a position to choose between benefits and a job.”

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