Denmark’s education minister, Magnus Heunicke, called the rising use of short apprenticeship contracts untenable on Monday, and said he will summon labor-market partners for talks on the problem.
Heunicke said it is not good enough that more and more young people must look for apprenticeship placements several times during their vocational education, because they can only sign short training agreements. DR reports that the minister used the word “uholdbar”, meaning untenable, about the development. He said he will therefore call in the social partners for a discussion.
According to DR, the minister was reacting to an analysis by Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd and Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation. The analysis found that 7,596 short training agreements were signed in 2025, which DR describes as a record. That figure is marginally higher than in 2021, when the number was 7,536.
A short training agreement means a student’s practical training period is split across several workplaces. It can also leave students waiting to learn whether the company that signed the first short agreement will extend it. Heunicke said Denmark has a desperate need for skilled workers to handle its tasks.
The minister said it is untenable to begin an education with a placement agreement while having no security of reaching the end, obtaining the journeyman’s certificate and finishing the training. He linked that uncertainty directly to the country’s need for qualified tradespeople.
Earlier attempts to limit short agreements
DR notes that efforts to restrict short training agreements were made in both 2016 and 2020. In the years when those measures were implemented, the number of agreements fell, before rising again afterwards. The 2025 total set a new high.
The trend runs counter to an agreement made in 2020 between the social partners and the government, which aimed to limit exactly these short contracts. DR reports that this is why the minister is dissatisfied with the current situation.
What prompted the minister’s reaction
The comments followed DR’s report earlier the same day on the AE and FH analysis. That article described how vocational school students must search for an apprenticeship several times, and how the number of short agreements has increased. Heunicke’s response was published by DR on August 24, 2026.
Apprenticeship placements are a required part of Danish vocational education programs, which train workers for trades and technical occupations. Rules on apprentice contracts have been adjusted several times over the past decade, as DR’s account of the 2016 and 2020 measures shows.
No date has been announced for the talks with the social partners. DR did not report which organizations will be invited, or what specific measures the minister will propose.
