Denmark's unemployment rate falls to three decades low

The milestone comes as a red-hot job market continues to eat away at the ranks of the unemployed at a rapid pace. Since the mid- 1990s the number of unemployed has fallen from over 350,000, with unemployment falling or remaining the same in every quarter since 2003, according to Statistics Denmark. Experts had predicted that the rapid declines would come to a halt around the 100,000 mark as wage pressures began to slow growth and as employers were left with an increasingly smaller pool of hard-to-employ individuals.

Although some are now predicting that the number of unemployed can shrink to as low as 80,000, the fear of wage-induced inflation stemming from the tight job market remains. OECD economists point out that much of the reason for Denmark's low unemployment rate can be found in reforms implemented by the Social Democratic-led government in the 1990s. At that time, the government reduced unemployment benefits in order to encourage people to seek work. (english.people.com.cn)