The Danish executive consists of a number of government departments known as Ministries. These departments are led by a cabinet member and known as Minister for the relevant department or portfolio. In theory all Ministers are equal and may not command or be commanded by a fellow minister. Constitutional practice does however dictate, that the Prime Minister is primus inter pares, first among equals. Unlike many other countries, Denmark has no tradition of employing junior Ministers.
A Ministry is the secretariat to the Minister. Its functions comprises overall planning, development and strategic guidance on the entire area of responsibility of the Minister. The Ministers’ decisions are carried out by the permanent and politically neutral civil service within the Ministry. Unlike some democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government. The head of the ministry civil servants is the Permanent Secretary. The majority of civil servants in fact work in executive agencies which are separate operational organizations reporting to the Minister.
Also the Minister has his own private secretariat as well as communications personnel. Unlike normal civil servants, the communication staff is partisan and do not remain in their posts upon changes of Government.
From the middle of the 1990s the Danish economy has been characterised by a longlasting upturn. After years of high and generally rising unemployment, the picture changed markedly from 1994. Since then employment rose considerably, while unemployment dropped to one of the lowest levels in the EU.
In recent years, however, Denmark has seen a modest increase in unemployment, and a corresponding recession in economic growth. Compared with most other EU countries, Denmark has a very high rate of economic activity and a high percentage of employment. These high levels, among other things, reflect that the public sector in Denmark undertakes many of the tasks in relation to care for children, the sick and the elderly which in some other countries are the responsibility of the family.
The development in employment and unemployment is closely connected with the economic development described in the next section. This is followed by an account of some of the main conditions on the Danish labour market.