Statistics Denmark’s latest unemployment figures show that unemployment rose from September to October by 5,400 in seasonally adjusted figures, reaching a total unemployment of 118,300 or 4.2 percent of the labour force.

“Unemployment reached its lowest level in recent years in June 2008, with 45,800 seasonally adjusted, full-time unemployed. Since then unemployment has risen by 72,500 or 158 percent,” Statistics Denmark says.

The biggest increase in unemployment has been among 40-59 year-olds at 18 percent, while unemployment among 16-24 year-olds has only risen by four percent, Statistics Denmark says.

Danske Bank Chief Economist Steen Bocian says he expects unemployment to continue to rise for quite some time.

“Productivity has been dropping off in recent years and even though an increase in production can be expected in some companies, these companies will be able to increase production without employing extra staff. The production increase, therefore, will not be enough to offset the layoffs expected in other companies,” Bocian says.

He adds that the construction sector has been given too much attention in the current crisis, given that the rise in unemployment from the second to third quarters of 2009 has been predominantly in the industrial sector.

“And the industrial sector can be expected to remain under pressure for a long time because of the serious deterioration in competitiveness that we have seen as a result of high wage growth, low productivity growth and a more effective currency,” Bocian says adding, however, that there are no ‘quick fixes’ for the problems within the industrial sector.