Carpentry firm defends one-year apprentice contracts

Færch and Co. generally hires apprentices on one-year training agreements, despite criticism that the short contracts leave young people uncertain about their future, DR reports.

Ole Mattesen Christensen, the carpentry company’s head of human resources and development, acknowledges the uncertainty but says market conditions make short agreements necessary.

DR reported that employers and apprentices entered into a record number of short training agreements in 2025. The 7,596 agreements were slightly above the previous record of 7,536, set in 2021.

The agreements have attracted criticism from the National Union of Students at Vocational Colleges, the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions and politicians at Christiansborg, Denmark’s parliament. Education Minister Magnus Heunicke of the Social Democrats has called the situation unacceptable and plans to invite the parties involved to discuss the issue.

A 2020 tripartite agreement between labour-market organisations sought to limit the use of short training agreements. Under the agreement, a company may enter into only one short agreement with an apprentice. Any extension must cover the remainder of the apprenticeship.

Færch and Co. wants to train as many young people as possible, Christensen says, and usually hires apprentices for the rest of their training. But short agreements allow the company to respond if orders fall or other financial problems arise.

“We can adapt if something unfortunate happens, or if there are fluctuations in our incoming orders,” Christensen says.

Jakob Pilgaard, head of training at Techcollege Aalborg, calls the short agreements highly problematic. He compares them to students not knowing whether they can continue from their first to their second year of upper secondary school, despite having completed their studies properly.

He also says there is a positive aspect: apprentices are less likely to remain at a company that goes bankrupt, and schools can often help them find a new training placement in time.

“Our intention is to get all our students through their training and qualify them, so that we get new, skilled tradespeople into our industry,” Christensen says.