The primary objective of the employment enhancement measures is to increase the supply of labour in Denmark. One way to do this is to help people move from public benefits to jobs.
We work towards this objective at three levels: local, regional and national.
Locally
Locally, 91 job centres are responsible for contact with citizens who are unemployed and enterprises which need workers. Until 1 August 2009 the municipalities and the state shared the responsibility for putting the employability enhancement measures into practice. Now the municipalities and their job centres have the responsibility for all contact with unemployed people. The job centres are responsible for all unemployed people and for recipients of sickness benefits. This includes people who can start work immediately, and people who need help before they are ready to work.
Regionally
Denmark has four employment regions. The regions support the job centres and ensure they perform well. In addition, the regions monitor general labour market trends. The employment regions are a part of the National Labour Market Authority.
Nationally
The National Labour Market Authority and the Ministry of Employment have the overall responsibility for the labour market.
At all three levels, the social partners are involved through their participation in the Employment Councils. There is one employment council at the national level, four employment councils at the regional level and 98 employment councils at the local level, one in each of the municipalities.