Will introduce activity obligation for everyone under 40 – VG

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– We will introduce an activity obligation 37 hours a week for all social assistance recipients under the age of 40. In the next parliamentary term, it should be possible to extend it to apply to all social assistance recipients, she tells VG.

She has with her two deputy leaders and staff to the Danish capital, both to gain Danish experience and to begin work on the long election campaign until the municipal elections next year.

Idleness is the root of all evil. One of the experiences we see after we introduced an activity obligation for everyone under the age of 30, is that it forces the country’s municipalities to create an activity plan for people, which can create the conditions for social assistance recipients to be able to return to work.

She thinks the timing is ideal.

– There are lots of employers who now lack labor. Employers must use the opportunity to knock on their local NAV office and report what kind of needs they have.

– Young boys

She is absolutely sure that it will give good results.

– Put at the forefront, there are many out there who need a friendly push behind, including a number of young boys who have sat too much in the boys’ room. Getting them to work will cost a lot of effort, but the potential is great.

– If so many are to be activated, there may be many who pick up rubbish under municipal auspices; maybe not what makes them come back?

– The activity obligation must be adapted to the individual’s interest and previous background and education. Taking a course, education or supplement can help the person find a job that he or she can enjoy and stay in.

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She adds:

– Picking up rubbish is also an important job. There are many drug addicts and others who enjoy it and in that way get money for a living.

She says that courses and education are companies that will be offered in the activity obligation.

– The whole point of the activity obligation is that you get help to get the job you can imagine having.

– Angst social

Solberg says that there are a number of other factors that must be challenged.

– For many, it is, among other things, about gaining self-confidence to see the possibilities. Some have social anxiety, partly because they have been away from work for a long time and that they experience that they do not master. But with help, they can do it.

– What about those who do not fulfill that duty?

– Some are sick. It must be an individual assessment.

It is Mette Fredriksen’s Social Democratic party that has taken the lead when it comes to tightening social policy.

Here in Denmark, they have followed the immigrants and will introduce an activity obligation for them.

Solberg says that the Norwegian state pays around seven billion kroner in social assistance annually and that around four of these billions go to immigrants.

Will not pick out immigrants

Nevertheless, she does not follow the Social Democrats in Denmark.

– We are not going in that direction. We believe it is right that all social assistance recipients are given an activity obligation no matter where you come from, says Solberg.

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She believes Jonas Gahr Støre has a lot to learn from his party colleague, Mette Fredriksen.

– I think the Labor Party in Norway in recent years has stopped talking about the line of work. They are not concerned that work is the most important thing. They have eaten a lot of the outer left rhetoric, which is more concerned with contributing benefits than helping people get to work.

– Starts with the youngest

In 2017, Solberg’s government introduced a requirement for activity obligations for all social assistance recipients under the age of 30.

If the Conservatives get what they want, it will be extended to 37 hours a day up to those who are 40 years old.

– Why do not you go in to introduce for everyone at once?

– We must prioritize helping those who have the longest of their lives in working age. But the goal is for everyone to have an activity duty.

The Danish Social Democratic government recently presented its plan to get more people into work: «Denmark can do more II».

Read more about other Danish measures here:

– We need to look more closely at whether there are more of the measures we want to take to Norway. To make demands on language training in order to be paid social assistance, the Conservatives proposed in government already in 2019, she says.

Enormous task

Conservative deputy leader Henrik Asheim says the job has just started.

– Norway has an enormous task ahead of us in getting more of the 600,000 people of working age who are out of work and education into working life. Far from everyone who is outside can work, but for very many of the more than 100,000 people who receive social assistance, the goal should be to get a job, he says.

– Making demands is the way to go

The Danes call the superstructure “work logic rather than breadwinner logic”.

– The Danes have realized that we can no longer support so many people of working age, without doing most to help them get a job. Making demands, as the Social Democratic government here in Denmark now does, is the way to go, says Asheim.

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On the trip to Denmark, they were also in Elsinore, one of seven municipalities down here that participate in a three-year pilot project “Release the municipalities”, where they get full freedom to run schools, kindergartens, child welfare and health and care.

Last week, the Conservatives won a majority in the Storting for their proposal to facilitate such an attempt in Norway.

– Challenge with the unions

In Elsinore, they met Mayor Benedikte Kiær.

– She said that they are mainly satisfied, but that there are some challenges associated with taking responsibility and showing leadership, instead of following state rules. It offers many opportunities, but they face challenges related to the unions, which will not automatically participate in schemes that can weaken their influence.

The Prime Minister’s Office points out that the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion must respond to the criticism and challenges in this case, but they have not yet responded.

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