Since the New Year, Denmark's largest companies have announced some 2,300 layoffs, of just oiver 150 per day, according to a survey carried out by Politiken.

The survey does not include smaller companies, and that the same time some redundancies may be stopped in the negotiating processs between employers and unions.

2009 jobless
"The picture that your survey portrays tallies with our impression. Unemployment will grow in 2009. For several years companies have been trying to attract good employees, so they have been reluctant to announce redundancies - but now they can't wait any longer," says Handelsbanken Chief Economist Jes Asmussen.

Asmussen forecasts unemployment at 100,000 at the end of 2009