The far-left Red/Green Alliance has proposed that anybody dependent upon the state for an income - social benefits recipients, students, pensioners - should be entitled to a basic social handout of at least DKK15,000 ($2.600) per month. A spokesman said it's 'integral' for society that every single citizen should be able to put food on the table, even high school students living at home with their parents who today are entitled to no more than DKK2,815 ($500) per month.
The Red/Green Alliance's close ally, the Socialist People's Party (SPP), immediately dismissed the proposal which, according to calculations from the non-partisan think-tank, Kraka, would cost the state DKK35bn annually.
"Denmark is facing massive economic problems and deficits as far as the eye can see," said SPP policy spokesman Jesper Petersen. "This would seriously reduce the incentive for people to find a job. We need to create more employment and investment, not dish out more money to those who don’t work.”
In a counter proposal, the Danish Association of Social Workers (DASW) suggested that social benefits for young unemployed should be slashed to fall in line with student grants (SU), to provide those under the age of 30, who’ve been stranded in the social system for years, with an incentive to either find a job or get an education.
A single person under 25, with no children, currently receives around DKK10.300 ($1800), lulling them into a sense of false security and discouraging them from bettering their lives, according to head of the DASW, Bettina Post, who wants to see cash benefits for young people reduced to SU levels, DKK5.662 per month, in the government’s upcoming benefits reform.
She said: “I’m not a great fan of cutting any kind of social benefits, but at the same time I’m no longer prepared to fight for young, healthy people to sit at home all day scratching their backsides.”
Employing a carrot and stick policy, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt announced plans earlier this week to give long-term unemployed welfare recipients a tax-free bonus if they find work, as part of the government’s upcoming benefits reform aimed at getting more people into the labour market.