Organizations call for focus on training of skilled workers for the green transition in Finance Act

Companies involved in work within the green transition are crying out for labour. But this cannot be seen in the proposal for the Finance Act that the government presented on Thursday. No funds have been allocated for improvements at vocational schools.

This is despite the fact that, according to studies from DI, there will be a shortage of 116,000 hands in industry alone by 2030 if Denmark is to succeed in reducing CO₂ emissions by 70 percent in 2030. Half of them will be skilled workers such as blacksmiths and mechanics, and they are already in short supply.

At the latest intake, enrolment in vocational education had fallen by 13 percent compared to the previous year. Therefore, it is a cause for concern at Dansk Metal and SMVdanmark that no money has been allocated to improve vocational education in the first place. This could cost Denmark in the green transition.

- We really need a boost for vocational schools, but when the government's budget bill only has a negotiation reserve of 200 million DKK, I fear that not a single penny will be added. We strongly urge that vocational education be taken into account by the parties, and that a significant boost be agreed upon in the next budget bill for 2024. We must start now, otherwise it will be too late. You don't educate overnight, he says and continues:

- When it is absolutely crucial to strengthen vocational education, it is because there will be 80,000 fewer skilled workers on the labor market in the next ten years. We are thus facing a massive shortage of people who can carry out the practical part of the green transition and energy renovation, which I think most people are fully in favor of. And it is especially the small and medium-sized companies that are stepping up to put solar cells on the roofs, insulate our buildings or replace the gas boiler. They cannot do that if they do not have enough skilled skilled employees, he says.

The same tone is heard from the trade union Dansk Metal, which calls the lack of funds for investments in vocational training "a failure".

- In the toasts, there are almost no limits to how much the politicians want the green transition in Denmark. But in the real world, it cannot be done if we do not get many more skilled workers, who are the ones who will produce and install what we need - such as wind turbines and heat pumps. Now the government is presenting yet another finance bill without investments in vocational training. It screams to the sky, and it is a political failure of the green transition, which is otherwise talked about so nicely, says union secretary Kasper Palm, who is responsible for education in Dansk Metal.

There is also room for praise

However, both SME Denmark and Dansk Metal also have praise for the government's budget bill proposal. At Dansk Metal, they say they are pleased that the government is reintroducing the education promise of 110 percent unemployment benefits, which through continuing education can give more people outside the labor market a skilled education. The union points out, however, that the initiative should be made permanent and not just temporary, as the government is proposing.

In SME Denmark, there is great joy that the government is dropping the expected savings of two billion kroner on the state capital budgets that were planned for in the budget bill from August last year, but which never managed to be adopted. Here, it is believed that the smaller savings can benefit SMEs.

- It is absolutely right for the government to take its foot off the brake a little when it comes to construction. Construction companies are already experiencing a shrinking order book and in certain areas, such as new house construction, the market has completely frozen. It would have been another bloodbath for a hard-hit construction sector if the government had insisted on making savings on, for example, the maintenance and construction of roads and government buildings,” says Jakob Brandt.