20-year-old Nanna Andersen is being told by the man at the jobcentre that he is closing her file and that her benefits will stop. But she isn't worried, because this month she starts a vocational course in animal care, after completing a 13-week course paid for by the jobcentre to help her figure out what she wants to do in life."It's been very helpful," Andersen says. "I don't think I would have gone into [further] education if I had not been on this programme."
Andersen is one of a hundred or so unemployed young people taking part in the scheme run by the city. It is one of the many policies Denmark has been pioneering to reduce youth unemployment. So far, they appear to be effective.
In the UK, 18.4% of under-25s are jobless, but the proportion in Denmark is only 3.2%. And part of the reason for these good results is that Denmark has intensive employment programmes to help those who are at most risk of joblessness.
"The Danes spend more money on building up the capabilities of people than we do," says David Coats, associate director for policy at the Work Foundation. "Their jobcentres are helping young people make the transition between education and the workplace much better than ours in the UK."
"For every person who comes here, we prepare a plan that will vary according to the person's situation," explains Louise Hare, a consultant at the jobcentre in south-west Copenhagen that deals only with under-30s who have little or no education. "We will try to identify the barriers preventing someone from getting a job or an education and see how we can help."
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