Last Week in Denmark (15.10 - 22.10) Episode 40 Year 3
Call for articles; Employment record; Pumpkins
Editor HQ
Call for articles: We invite passionate writers, experts, and enthusiasts to contribute their insights and expertise to our platform. We are interested in articles (1000-2000 words long) for two categories: “Untold Stories” and “How to Denmark”. For the first category, we want stories from the international community in Denmark (people and/or associations that did/do something good for our community; situations/events worth mentioning; etc.). For the second category, we are interested in knowledge-sharing guides (step-by-step to do this; etc.) on any topic that could empower internationals. Deadline: October 27th. Compensation - 1000 DKK per article. Send your article here - lastweekdk@gmail.com (if we choose to publish it, you will get compensated). (all articles generated via ChatGPT or other AI tools will be automatically disqualified).
Complete our survey and enter the lottery to win a laptop: In preparation for the funding application in January, we need to gather data about our audience and their wishes for the future. As we need thousands of responses, we decided to give you an extra incentive and put several very good laptops as prizes in the lottery. Link to the survey.
Invitation to the “United in Diversity” Cafe, a project made by AMIS and Last Week in Denmark, financed by Europa-Nævnet. Nine events around Denmark between the 3rd of November and the 9th of December. EU Citizenship rights and opportunities, entertainment, networking, food and drinks, meetup for subscribers. Free access.
Odense, 10th November, 17:00 - 19:00
Copenhagen, 11th November, 15:00 - 17:00 (The European-Ukrainian Hub)
Aalborg, 18th November, 15:00 - 17:00, International House North Denmark
Esbjerg, 3th December, 15:00 - 17:00
Status for the referral campaign: 200 new subscribers in the second campaign week. 27,300 subscribers to go until we reach our goal. So far, the top 5 across all the leaderboards are: Toshali (62 subscribers); Makhin A. (41 subscribers); Vikram (36 subscribers); Tilla Bezdan (34 subscribers) and Can Deger (32 subscribers). At the end of the competition, the top 3, will receive a Dell XPS 13 9370 (first place), Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (second place) and HP Elite Monitor (third place) provided by our sponsor, Bloomtree Technologies. Don’t forget that you can also get a significant discount from Bloomtreeit.dk depending on the number of subscribers you bring in (from 5% off at 2 subscribers to 30% off at 50 subscribers) and cool LWID merchandise. The competition ends on the 29th of October.
How do I join the competition?
Press the blue button “Refer a friend”. It will take you to the “Leaderboard” page, where you can find a link in the middle of the page.
Press “Copy Link” and share it with your friends, co-workers, neighbors, community groups, etc.
Every time someone uses that link to sign up as a subscriber, you get a referral. You can follow your progress in real time on the leaderboard.
Donation: The referral campaign sponsor, Bloomtree Technologies, made a significant donation of IT equipment towards our office in Aalborg. Thanks to their contribution, we were able to set up five working stations for volunteers. Read more about them here.
Last Week in Denmark's Universe
Listen to our weekly podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Amazon Music, Goodpods, Podfriend, Castbox, Castro, Player FM, Deezer, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Podcast Index and Buzzsprout.
The hiatus on the podcast continues for another week, unfortunately.
Check out our “New Denmark” merchandise collections : “Moving Forward”; “Searching for Home”; “Vasil”; “Irina”; “Monika” and “Kifaax”.
Read evergreen content on our website: How to get started with investing in Denmark; Born in Denmark: Pregnancy; Born in Denmark: Giving birth
!New evergreen content! Pension in Denmark I: Folkepension; Pension in Denmark II: Labor market pension; Interview with Diana Florescu, Forbes 30 under 30; Translator in Denmark
We also speak other languages: Romanian, Polish, Spanish and Turkish.
Find us on Facebook.
Danish Politics HQ
Law proposals and ideas
The government wants to limit the right for “aktindsigt”: The “Freedom of Information Act” gives you the right to access documents that are part of the public administration's case processing. According to the Police Union and several other trade unions (teachers, prison guards, nurses, social counsellors, etc.) there is abuse in the use of this right as public employees get harassed and exposed on the internet. The Ministry of Justice will propose in the following months a law to limit the right so that you cannot see details about a public worker in a certain case, for example.
The political arena
The decline of elderly care in Denmark: Not enough people want to work in elderly care. Not enough money available in the municipalities for decent elderly care. While the government is preparing further tax cuts, municipalities have to cut back on services provided to the elderly. This is not new; for the past ten years, municipalities have continuously cut from the budget meant for elderly care. Now, they got to a point where the mayors are saying that “they are not proud of the elderly care provided in their municipality”.
The average weekly time for visits for the home helper to people over 80 years old has dropped from 3.57 hours to 3.16 hours in the past ten years.
In 2020, the government promised 1000 more employees for elderly care. Not only did that not happen, but the number of elderly care employees has been reduced by 900.
There are 3.670 open positions for social and health assistants and 2.130 open positions for social and health helpers.
The number of people over 80 years old has increased by 31% in the past decade, while the number of people over 80 years old who receive home care visits has decreased by 4%.
“A reform is on the way for elderly care”, says the Minister for the Elderly.
People in Denmark do not trust that the police have enough resources to solve cases: 52% of the people in Denmark believe that the police do not have enough manpower, and due to that, police work is suffering.
According to the police officers, “It is especially tasks such as border control, large football matches and regular guarding tasks that take time away from cases of theft, burglary, vandalism, economic crime and violent cases.”
Tax deduction for repair of used electronics: Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals) wants to discourage overconsumption and has proposed a tax deduction for repair of used electronics. At the same time, they want a carbon tax on new electronics so that it becomes an easier choice to repair than to discard and buy new.
Danish Economy HQ
3,000,584 people in Denmark are employed: The figure does not include self-employment. 37,000 more people employed compared to August 2022. This is a historical record for Denmark. A record obtained during times of high inflation, weak purchasing power, and high interest rates. According to leading economists, the 28-month-long employment increase is bound to end soon. Already, employment is increasing at a slower pace compared to previous months.
Graduates get their first job faster: 1.3 months for professional bachelor graduates; 2 months for business academy graduates; and 2.4 months for master degree graduates. In 2012, the average was 3 months after graduation.
Good times for the banks, not so much for us customers: When banks deposit the money of customers in the National Bank, they get 3.6% interest rate. However, they give customers an interest rate of 0 to 1%, depending on the bank. The rest is profit for them. So not only do they make money when we borrow, but also when we deposit money.
The Minister of Business has asked the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority to investigate the banks.
Lunar and Nykredit offer the highest interest rates for deposits at the moment.
Pumpkin farming is a hit in Denmark: According to the Danish Agency for Agriculture, more land than ever is being cultivated with pumpkins (decorative, Hokkaido, squash, etc.). Why? “The sale of pumpkins is going very well. We're about to sell out of our classic Halloween pumpkins for carving, so it's absolutely overwhelming.” in the words of a local farmer.
Start a company in 54 hours: When? 10-13 November. Where? Aalborg. Who? Startup Weekend Aalborg (Kickstart Aalborg). Sign up here.
Why? Prizes in the value of 60,000 DKK for your future startup.
Really, why? Networking, competence building, learning, and new skills.
Internationals in business
Caredent, an international dental clinic from Aalborg, welcomes patients in multiple languages (English, Romanian, Arabic) and wants to spread the knowledge that dental care can also be affordable in Denmark. Read their story here. P.S - In November, we will run a series of articles about your dental rights in Denmark.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Culture, Religion and Royals with Cicek Eris
Four Danish documentaries have been chosen to feature in the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam: Among them, “Før stormen” (“As the Tide Comes In”) is set to make its world premiere, chronicling the battle of 27 residents on the Danish island of Mandø against rising water levels due to climate change. “Ekko af Kærlighed” (“Echo of You”) will be screened in the “Luminous” section; it is also nominated for the Award for Best Debut Feature Film. In the Youth competition, “Girl Away from Home” documents the journey of a 13-year-old Ukrainian gymnast fleeing to Germany following the Russian invasion, while the short film “Eternal Father” explores the family impact of a father’s decision to freeze his body after death.
European Union HQ
This category covers interesting happenings from other EU member states, EU candidate countries and EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland)
Four-day work week boosts Spanish workers' health: The coastal city of Valencia - Spain's third-largest with more than 800,000 inhabitants - scheduled local holidays to fall on four consecutive Mondays between April 10 and May 7 this year. The project affected 360,000 workers. The data showed an improvement in self-perceived health status, lower stress levels, and better feelings regarding tiredness, happiness, mood, and personal satisfaction.
Win a trip to Bruxelles: Register on the together.eu platform, use your personal link, and invite 10 friends to join you. On November 17, the European Parliament will select one winner per EU country from those who meet the competition rules.
Announcement Board
This section is curated by Cicek Eris. If you have events you want us to include here please send an email to denmarkhappenings@gmail.com. You can check out her newsletter about cultural events in Denmark here.
Online, 24th Oct, 09:30–11:00: The International Employment Unit of the city of Aarhus brings you this “Compelling Cover Letter” event to help you tailor your cover letter to the job description and infuse your cover letter with your personality.
Copenhagen, 26th Oct, 18:00–20:00: “Welcome to Denmark – Networking Event” will start with sharing personal tips and tricks on where to network, after which you will have the opportunity to mingle and meet other participants and discuss life as an international in Denmark.
International media about Denmark HQ
Can Novo Nordisk’s success really be a problem for the Danish economy? (The Atlantic)
The Heirs to the Thrones of Europe Gathered for Prince Christian of Denmark's Glitzy Birthday Celebration (Town & Country)
Stock Games 2023 with Andreea Bianca Pascalau Buza
C25 keeps decreasing
The C25 index kept decreasing this week, after Genmab and Novo Nordisk fell by 9.43% and 6.63% this week, respectively. So far this year, the C25 index has decreased by 7.49%.
Dividends from Tryg
If you own shares in Tryg (in real life, not in Aktiespil), you received dividends this week - 1.85 DKK per share before tax, to be more precise. The price of a share often decreases after the company pays dividends out to its investors, and while nobody can tell when the price will go back to pre-dividend value, it usually does.
How are dividends taxed?
Dividends are taxed based on the 27% / 42% rule. If you receive dividends up to 58,900 dkk/ year (2023), you pay 27% tax. If you receive dividends over 58,900 dkk/ year (2023), you pay 42% tax on the amount that exceeds 58,900 DKK. So if you were to receive dividends worth 60,000 DKK this year, you’d pay 27% tax of 58,900 DKK and 42% tax of 1100 DKK.
If you bought shares through a Danish bank, Nordnet or Saxo Bank, SKAT is automatically notified of your earnings, and you only have to check if the numbers are correct. If you own shares through a foreign bank or investment platform, you have to report your earnings yourself.
If you are interested in learning more about investing in Denmark, home ownership, loans, money-saving tips and more, I’m writing about all of this on @moneylikealocal.dk on Instagram.