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The Committee takes note of the information contained in the Government’s report covering the period ending in June 2004.

1. Labour market measures. The Government indicates in its report that while unemployment had, in 2001, reached its lowest level in more than 25 years, it increased slightly in the following two years to reach 6.6 per cent of the labour force. However, since the increase in unemployment reflected the impact of the slow down in the international economy and a fall in the return into the job market of unemployed persons, the Government expects the situation to improve and its medium-term target is to increase the number of employed persons by 60,000 between 2003 and 2010 and to reduce unemployment to a level of 4.5 per cent of the labour force. The Government considers the increase of the labour force as a key element of its employment policy and intends to achieve its objective by raising employment rates amongst women, older workers and ethnic minorities to a level that exceeds the fall due to demographic change.

2. Moreover, in order to improve the employment situation, the Government adopted Act No. 419 of 10 June 2003 on active employment measures. This Act collects the data for insured and non-insured unemployed persons in order to give a more visible and better-coordinated labour market system. The main principle is to focus on the individual, using the same evaluation method for each person and by encouraging contacts between unemployed persons and the employment institutions every third month. The aim of the intensive contact programme is to get unemployed persons back into ordinary jobs as fast as possible by increasing the focus on job seeking and job placement. The Committee would appreciate receiving further information on measures taken to increase the employment rate of older persons over 55 years of age. Please also clarify how the unemployment benefits policy contributes to promoting the re-entry into employment of the beneficiaries.

3. In addition, the Government states that, in order to meet its objective to increase the labour force, better incentives are introduced for unemployed persons over the age of 50 to stay on the labour market and better possibilities are offered for persons with disabilities to get into employment. It also mentions that the municipalities’ placement of jobs for persons with weak resources will be strengthened and that subsidies will be granted to set up special placement units. As regards young people, the Government launched, in 2002, a plan for a "better education" comprising different themes such as increased quality, flexibility, a strengthening of interdisciplinary guidance and internationalization of education programmes. The guidelines of this plan are to strengthen the education and initiative capacity of the workforce in order to prepare it for a knowledge society. Lastly, the Government indicates that, on the demand side, it supports job creation and entrepreneurship by actively promoting an entrepreneur culture and by granting effective access to capital for new enterprises, in order to enhance the survival rate for these new enterprises. The Committee takes note with interest of these measures and looks forward to receiving from the Government in its next report an assessment of the impact of its active labour market policies, including information on the extent to which these measures have been successful in achieving its objectives of increasing the labour force and reducing unemployment. Please also include detailed disaggregated information on labour market trends (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention).

4. Participation of the social partners. The Government indicates that the former National Labour Market Council and the Social Council has been discontinued and replaced by the Employment Council. The organization of the Employment Council has been expanded to include representatives from the Danish Council of Organizations of Disabled Persons. The Government indicates that the tasks of the Employment Council are the same as the ones performed by the former National Labour Market Council and consist in advising the Minister of Employment on employment policies and making recommendations on the regular activities of the employment services. The Committee takes due note of this information and asks the Government to transmit, in its next report, any relevant examples of reports or recommendations that the Employment Council has adopted on the matters covered by the Convention.