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Financial crisis not over according to most Danes

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March 24th, 2014


This article is more than 10 years old.

New study shows that most believe the country is still in the midst of a recession

A lack of jobs, mounting bills and no money – a common scenario for many in the midst of a financial crisis. And according to recent figures, most Danes believe they are still in the middle of the economic downturn that started in 2008.

Research by YouGov for metroXpress newspaper shows that most Danes believe their country is yet to pull through the credit crunch era.

Of the 1,013 people aged 18-74 asked by YouGov, only 24 percent said that they believed the crisis was over.

Eleven percent were unsure, and as many as 65 percent answered ‘no’ when asked if the recession had abated in Denmark.

READ ALSO: More young people on unemployment benefits

Consumer confidence on way up
The clear-cut results came as a mystery to some.

One of them, Flemming Ibsen, a professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Aalborg University, believes that Denmark has already pulled out of the recession.

Both employment and consumer confidence are on the way up, he argued, and Nationalbanken, the financial sector and business leaders are all expecting economic growth in the coming years.

“I would definitely say ‘yes, we are out of the financial crisis,’” he told metroXpress. “Even though there is no talk of a massive amount of jobs, all statistics and key players indicate that we out of the crisis.”

READ ALSO: Bright EU prognosis for Danish economy

Attitude shift from companies
Banks are also noticing a shift. ”There are clear indications that we are on our way out of the crisis,” Jacob Graven, the chief economist at Sydbank, explained to metroXpress.

“We are seeing a change of mood, particularly from companies that have had a noticeably better outlook in the past year.”

The global financial crisis of 2007-2008, which left many without jobs and homes across Denmark, has been widely described by many economists as the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”