Active Employment Measures

An internship at a company lasts up to four weeks.  

The purpose of a company internship can be to clarify your own job goals or to determine whether you need more training and guidance to get a job. 

You cannot intern at the company where you were last employed. 

A stepping stone to new opportunities 

Company internships can be a way to gain new knowledge and networks in a new industry and may help you find a job faster. Because it is typically short-term, a company internship is often used as a stepping stone to regular or wage subsidy employment. 

You can find companies looking for interns under the company internship regime on our JobMatch platform. You can also create a profile and match with companies directly in your inbox.  

JobMatch 

Once you have found a company interested in hiring you a s an intern, get the internship approved by the job centre or another service provider before you start. You can read more about internships on jobnet.dk. 

You must apply for regular jobs  

The company internship costs the company nothing. While you do the internship, you will receive unemployment benefits as usual. You must also be registered on jobnet.dk and apply for regular jobs during your internship. 

You will be insured via the job centre and receive a contribution to help pay your transport costs according to the applicable rules. 

If you are a single parent or aged 50 or over, you may be eligible for a wage subsidy job from your first day of unemployment. Otherwise, you may qualify for a wage subsidy job after 26 weeks of unemployment. 

The wage subsidy job aims to provide you with training and skills development of your professional, social, or linguistic competencies. The duration of the wage subsidy job is agreed with the job centre. 

You must apply for jobs while working in a wage subsidy job 

You can work in private and public companies with a wage subsidy. Different rules apply to public and private wage subsidy jobs, respectively. However, in both cases, you must remain registered as unemployed on Jobnet.dk during your subsidised employment. You must also continue to apply for regular work and meet the availability requirements. These terms are part of your contract with your employer in the wage subsidy job. This means you must be given time off to attend the mandatory meetings. 

Remember that your job centre or another service provider must approve the wage subsidy employment before you start. 

Check out our JobMatch platform where there may be wage subsidy jobs available 

You will be employed under the terms of the collective agreement, and it’s up to you to negotiate your salary and any pension. The employer receives a subsidy for your pay and covers the rest. 

Be proactive 

You can contact relevant companies and inform them of the possibility of hiring you with a wage subsidy. Doing so can influence the career path your wage subsidy job sets you on. 

Please note that you’ll be expected to work as an ”extra” resource when employed with a wage subsidy in a private company. This means that the company cannot lay off employees and hire someone with a wage subsidy employment to do the same work. 

Six months is the maximum duration you can be employed with a wage subsidy by a private employer. 

You have plenty of opportunities to find a public sector organisation where you would like to take up a wage subsidy position. You can be employed in a wage subsidy job with a public sector employer for up to four months.  

You can always ask us, the job centre or other service providers if we have any ideas or contacts regarding wage subsidy jobs. 

You will earn a salary equal to the unemployment benefit amount 

In the public sector, the salary is set at the same level as the unemployment benefit rate (dagpengesats). You will also receive a pension if the employment is covered by a collective agreement that includes a pension. 

Your weekly working hours are calculated based on your unemployment benefit rate. This means that if you are employed for 37 hours per week, you will receive the highest daily unemployment benefit rate of 973 DKK per day (2025). 

You can get a transport subsidy (befordringsgodtgørelse) in a public wage subsidy job. 

You may be offered job search guidance and a skills assessment as one of the first steps in your active employment measures. 

Your job centre or other service provider is responsible for the guidance. Their approaches may vary greatly. 

Upgrading your skills for a specific job 

Suppose you’ve received a job offer contingent on developing a specific skill before you can start. 

In that case, you can apply to the job centre or another service provider to cover the cost of the necessary training or course. 

Different rules apply when you participate in a job rotation project. You do not need to be registered as unemployed on jobnet.dk during the period you work full-time as a job rotation substitute. If you do not work full-time as a job rotation substitute, you can receive supplementary unemployment benefits according to the general conditions. 

You do not use up your unemployment benefit hours while participating in job rotation. However, you cannot use the fact that you are working as a job rotation substitute to requalify for a new unemployment benefit period or extend your current unemployment benefits period, as it is subsidised employment.