Billion kroner public investment plan aims fight youth unemployment by creating 5000 work placements by 2010

The government has announced it is to invest one billion kroner in securing 5000 internship places next year for students to prevent them joining the unemployment queue.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced the initiative after the government’s two-day cabinet meeting to lay its plans for the autumn session of parliament.

‘If young people are hit by unemployment it will affect them for the rest of their lives and we must avoid that,’ said Rasmussen at a press conference this afternoon.

The initiative will help young people without an education get a foothold into the labour market and also help those studying find employment after graduating. It is not yet known how the programme would be financed.

Rasmussen stressed the importance of finding jobs for young people when he became prime minister this spring. At that time, he said he wished his own children never had to know the kind of unemployment that was prevalent in the 1980s.

The number of internship and training placements has already dropped by 27 percent this year, and as of the end of August, there were more than 6,400 without a placement – a 15 percent increase on the previous month.

Many higher education courses require students to complete a compulsory work placement and it is feared that if students do not secure one they will drop out of their studies.

The initiative will also include an immediate offer that would see 18 and 19 year olds offered an educational opportunity or work placement by the local council within a week of applying for welfare benefits.