Socially Inclusive Labour Market

In the future, even more than now, the two most important factors in terms of getting and keeping a job will be good health and good qualifications. In the years to come we are therefore facing a number of important choices that will determine who will be active on the labour market.

A socially more inclusive labour market means holding on to the people who risk being excluded. It is about making room for those who are already excluded. And it is about preventing work injuries, attrition and sickness.

The last five years have seen the initiation of a process, promoted by both the Danish government and the social partners, where human aspects are weighted on a par with economic aspects.

We have taken the first steps together, but there is still a long haul before we get there.

Growing requirements as regards the knowledge and adaptability of employees in the future entail increased risk of marginalisation of those who have trouble boarding the 'knowledge express'. That is an unfortunate and very expensive consequence. Both in economic and human terms. In human terms, because a life based on the passive receipt of benefits - unemployment benefit, sickness benefit, early retirement or cash benefits - will be short on many of the important human values.