Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt has announced the launch of a new government jobs package. The PM told the media during her weekly press conference on Thursday (17 January) that the initiative would require ministers to come up with fresh stimulus ideas before March.
The deadline comes as newly implemented reforms on the country’s unemployment system are estimated to leave up to 23,000 Danes with no support by the summer, according to a report released by the country’s ministry of employment on Monday (14 January).
Thorning-Schmidt, whose approval rating has been slipping in recent polls, said during the conference, “The government is going to increase its efforts to improve competition and create employment. We need to find the right proposals to improve our competitiveness and create jobs. It’s a challenge that we are going to take particularly seriously. But I also want to underline that there aren’t any shortcuts and we need to find proposals that work,” the Copenhagen Post reports.
She also indicated that she had not ruled out the prospect of turning to business tax breaks, although added that such a measure is not a guarantee of success in stimulating the jobs market.
“There is a lot of focus on the effect taxes and fees have on competition […] But while it is easy to promise to cut taxes, it is much harder to finance them,” she said in the address.