Presentation for the workshop "Supporting Young People through Social Innovation" of URBACT Annual Conference 2012. Author: Jens Sibbersen, Denmark

1. Active Labour Market Policy for
Youth with a strategic focus on
education and inclusion
Jens Sibbersen
Head of Department
Jobcenter Copenhagen, Municipality of Copenhagen
November 2012

2. Outline of my
presentation
•Brief introduction to Copenhagen and
the Jobcentre at its tasks and challenges
•Organising principles as a means to an
effective Employment Policy
•Combatting poverty within an inclusive
and mainstream policy and organisation
– some examples

3. An International City
Copenhagen is an international city with
some 540,000 citizens who represent a
variety of different national backgrounds.
Approximately 119,864 are immigrants or
descendants of descendants. It corresponds
to 22.2 % of the Copenhagen population.
14.7 % come from non-Western countries.

4. Political Organization of
Copenhagen
•The City Council is the governing political body of Copenhagen
•The City Council consists of 7 committees, each with its own
administration:
•The Finance Committee
•The Culture and Leisure Committee
•The Children and Youth Committee
•The Health and Care Committee
•The Social Services Committee
•The Technical and Environmental Committee
•The Employment and Integration Committee
Mayor Anna Mee Allerslev (B)

5. Tasks of the Employment and
Integration Administration
•Employment (including jobcentres and training
centres)
• Education
•Cash benefits, unemployment insurance and
sickness benefits
•Interaction with entreprises, monitoring and
analyses of the structures of the labour market
•Assessment of labour skills in connection with
early retirement
•Inclusion tasks across the administrations
•Language centres
•Danish language training for adults

6. Jobcenter Copenhagen –
an example concerning
youth without education
Challenge
Prognosis (2020)
-15.800 skilled jobs will be needed in Cph with the current
trend
-Similarly 36.600 unskilled workers will not be needed.
Situation now
-82 % of 24 year olds, that live in Copenhagen have a youth
education (high school or vocational education)
-69,3 % of 30-34 year olds have a vocational education
-Youth Unemployment 6,7 % in first quarter of 2012

7. Targeting Youth Employment in
Copenhagen
Target
– 95 pct. of a youth cohort shall have en education within 2020
– 60 pct. of a youth cohort shall have a further education by 2020
– Reducing unemployment for youth with further 10 pct.
Strategy
•A strong focus on the ordinary educational system at the
Jobcentres
•Spare time occupation as supplement to Student Financial Aid
•A cross sector approach establishing strategic partnerships with
•Educational Institutions
•Youth Education Guidance facilities
•Enterprises
•Labour Market Organisations
•Job- and Education Fairs

8. Organising principles
•Performance Management through organisation and capacity
building – a baseline for innovation
• External actor as strategic partners in Active Labour Market
Policy
•Innovation as a key to succes
•Strong focus on production as a key to success
•Main streaming policy targeting employment through
education for youth without education
•Evolving door policy
•Citizen at the helm
•Profiling
• Holistic approach for disadvanged youth
•Specialised measures

9. Mission and Vision of
the EIA
Mission
•With the help of the EIA the citizens of
Copenhagen are employed and form part of
the city’s diversity
Vision
•Access to job and education
•Professionel service on time
•A chance for everyone to join in

12. Profiling system
An initial and ongoing evaluation of the employment potential of the
individual in order to initiate ALMM
How?
•Employment Potential – degree of match (through dialogue):
1-3where 1 is immediate match and 3 is no match
M1 is ready for the labour market and/or education, 2 ready for activation
and 3 no immediate match (temporarily unavailable)
•Resources of the individual (through dialogue)
5 points of attention: 1) Own employment perspective, 2) Formal and
practical qualifications, 3) Personal competences, 4) Financial situation
and networks and 5) Health
•Demands of the Labour Market
When establishing the match the resources of the individual have to be
take into consideration as well as the demands of the labour market.

13. Specialised Measures (examples)
Focus on
•Negative Social Development in particular areas in Copenhagen with a high
concentration of unemployed through
•Intensified efforts towards vulnerable groups
•Education to all young people
Mentor support during an education
For young criminals there is a program of extended mentor support
Example of measures
•18 + (Targeting employement and education for vulnerable young)
•17 + (making smooth the transition to adulthood)
•Sparetime job (preparing young for the Labour Market and Education)
•Intensified effort towards primarily criminals (Safe City Strategy):
•The good release
•Hot spot
•SSP+ (School Social Services and Police)
•Exit (New Start – replacement of young criminals)
•TAMU (Production School for disadvanged young)
•Education through Job

14. Labour Market tools at
the Job Centres
•Jobnet.dk
•Country wide facility where available jobs – unsubsidized
as well as subsidized - can be registered with or without
the assistance of the Job Centres
•CV of the unemployed has to be registered within the
first month of unemployment
•Jobindsats.dk - an IT-based bench marking tool
•Measures results and effects of the active labour policy
•Satisfy legal requirements and rights of the unemployed
• Case work tool
a web-based system that is used in the planning,
execution and follow-up on the general and individual
employment efforts consisting of 2 parts: Profiling system
and Benefit history.

15. Thank you for
your attention