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WORKING IN DENMARK

Danish businesses repeat call for foreign workers amid labour shortage

Local authorities and a major business interest organisation have urged Denmark’s government to address a labour shortage.

Published: 5 August 2022 15:30 CEST
Danish businesses repeat call for foreign workers amid labour shortage
A representative for Danish municipalities said services may have to be cut if a labour shortage is not addressed. Photo by everdrop GmbH on Unsplash

Unmet demand for labour in both private businesses and the public sector has reached a crisis point, according to an appeal to the government to reach a broader labour agreement. 

Parliament must renew its efforts to find a new national compromise which will secure more labour, the National Association of Municipalities (Kommunernes Landsforening, KL) and the Confederation of Danish Industry (Dansk Industri, DI) said according to financial media Finans.

“The parties [in parliament] must be honest with voters and start a completely different and strict prioritisation of what the public sector can offer people,” mayor and KL chairperson Martin Damm told news wire Ritzau.

“Otherwise, the parties must find the labour needed for private companies to provide growth and wellbeing, and for us at municipalities to have the staff and economy to deliver the services people expect,” he said.

The municipalities will need 44,000 additional employees by 2030 due to increasing numbers of children and elderly in the population, according to KL.

Short the lack of labour persist, municipal governments could be forced to reduce the priority of services such as cleaning for elderly residents, according to Damm.

Danish businesses are finding it harder than ever to recruit staff and could hire 38,000 new workers immediately if they were available, according to DI, which represents the interests of about 19,000 Danish companies. 

Lars Sandahl Sørensen, managing director of DI, firmly believes the answer to the labour shortage lies outside Danish borders. 

“We will need many more foreigners,” Sørensen told Finans.

“It is not about getting cheap labour, but about getting people at all. We are in a situation where we do not have employees to carry out the things on green conversion that we have already decided to do, and that we would like to do on health and welfare,” he said.

Employment minister Peter Hummelgaard told Finans that the government agreed a deal on international recruitment shortly before the summer break.

READ MORE: How can you get a work permit in Denmark if you aren’t an EU national? 

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WORKING IN DENMARK

Foreign workers report increased appeal of Denmark and Copenhagen in study

A new study has placed Denmark first in the Nordic region and 17th in the world in terms of popularity among foreign workers.

Published: 24 April 2024 16:49 CEST
Foreign workers report increased appeal of Denmark and Copenhagen in study

A global study by Boston Consulting Group and The Network, in which Danish jobsearch site Jobindex participates, found that Denmark is punching above its weight globally when it comes to presenting itself as an attractive option for foreign staff.

A high ranking in the study is good news given Denmark’s high employment rate and difficulty reported by businesses filling long and short-term positions, the Boston Consulting Group said in a press release.

The study, Decoding Global Talent 2024, was released on Wednesday. The study has been conducted on repeated occasions since 2014, gauging the preferences of international workers.

It is the largest study of its kind in the world and with over 150,000 respondents from 185 countries including 11,000 from Denmark.

“It’s very impressive that Denmark takes a top position on the list. We are far from being the 17th-largest country in the world. The highest places naturally go to the English-speaking countries where most people have the language,” Boston Consulting Group’s Managing Director and Senior Partner Andreas Malby said in the statement.

“But foreign labour wants to go to Denmark because of quality of life and security in this country,” Malby added.

Individual countries’ performance in the study is based on the subjective perceptions of workers around the world, who submit votes. In addition to quality of life and security, other factors such as economic growth, tax, healthcare and work permit and visa processes can all influence the perceptions of survey respondents of how countries brand themselves.

Denmark’s ranking this year is an eight-place improvement since the last time the study was conducted in 2021. The 17th spot achieved this year puts it ahead of Nordic neighbours Sweden, Norway and Finland in the ranking.

Copenhagen also popular

Capital city Copenhagen rates well on the city version of the list, its 28th place also ahead of Nordic rivals.

“It reflects Denmark’s good image that manages to attract international labour,” the CEO of Jobindex, Kaare Danielsen, said in the statement.

Danielsen described the study as “big and good news for Danish employers who face a shortage of staff in the short and long terms”.

“We are looking at an international shortage of labour in areas like green transition and AI where it is hugely important for us to attract international labour,” he said.

Danielsen noted that the results of the study point to a potential for Denmark to recruit more labour from southern Europe, where it has a high level of appeal for skilled workers.

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