20. februar 2012, 12:29 – opdateret 20. februar 2012, 12:45

Labour Minister Mette Frederiksen has come under fire for urging unemployed graduates to get a job stacking shelves at the local supermarket if they can’t find work in their own field.

Ms Frederiksen and Minister for Education Morten Østergaard sparked off a debate over the weekend with an open letter to Jyllands-Posten in which they highlighted the growing problem of graduates who have no idea how to put their qualifications to use and go directly from university to the jobless queue.

One in four of all new ‘eggheads’ is unemployed and should ‘pull themselves together’, according to Ms Frederiksen who claimed she would be more than willing to work as a supermarket cashier in Netto if she ever became unemployed and couldn’t find another job.

“During a crisis we all have to pull together and that goes for academics too,” she said.

The ‘get to work’ message was immediately dismissed by the head of the Danske Magisterforeningen (Danish Association of Masters and PhDs), Ingrid Stage, who accused the minister of being out of touch with reality.

“She seems to believe that graduates are only willing to teach French or work within the narrow confines of their own field but that isn’t the case. Many of our members have sought academic postings in other subjects, which has helped to reduce unemployment,” she said.