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WORKING IN DENMARK

Denmark cuts back on ‘positive list’ of jobs eligible for work permits

Denmark has cut 15 job titles from its two positive lists of in-demand professions or trades eligible for work permits.

Published: 24 January 2023 16:54 CET
Denmark cuts back on 'positive list' of jobs eligible for work permits
Welders are on the positive list of skilled workers. Here one works on a wind turbine at Vestas' factory in Esbjerg. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI) at the start of this year released a new “Positive List for People with a Higher Education”, which reduced the number of eligible job titles to 40 from the 46 which were on the list valid from July 1st until the end of 2022. 

The number of job titles in the “Positive List for Skilled Work“, meanwhile, has been reduced from 46 to 36.

The new lists will apply to anyone seeking a work permit between January 1st this year and the end of June. 

READ ALSO: How can you get a work permit in Denmark if you are not an EU national?

For people from countries outside the EU, the positive lists represent one of the best routes to a job in Denmark, with the first list outlining the qualified professions in demand in Denmark, and the second the skilled trades where there is a shortage of qualified labour. 

If someone from outside the EU has been offered a job in Denmark in any of the professions on these lists, they can apply for a work permit through the scheme. 

Siri updates the two lists twice a year on January 1st and July 1st on the basis of the Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen or “labour market balance”, prepared by the The Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment, also biannually. 

The Arbejdsmarkedsbalancen lists which job titles are currently experiencing severe labour shortages, labour shortages, which are employable, and which are less employable. 

You can find the positive list from last July for people with higher education here, and the positive list from last July for people with skilled jobs here. 

As of January 1st this year, the following job titles are on the positive list: 

POSITIVE LIST FOR PEOPLE WITH HIGHER EDUCATION

Managers in the field of production and service: 

  • Head of product. Bachelor’s degree required. 

Natural Science and Engineering

  • Chemist: Master’s degree
  • Biologist: Master’s degree
  • Mechanical Engineer: Professional Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree
  • Civil Engineer: Professional Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree
  • Environmental Engineer: Professional Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree
  • Electronics Engineer: Professional Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree
  • Town Planner: Master’s degree

Healthcare 

  • Medical Doctor: Master’s degree + Danish authorization
  • Hospital Doctor;´: Master’s degree + Danish authorization
  • Nurse: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish authorization
  • Veterinarian: Master’s degree + Danish authorization
  • Dentist: Master’s degree + Danish authorization
  • Physiotherapist: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish authorization
  • Occupational therapist: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish authorization

Education

  • Ph.D, Social Sciences: Master’s degree
  • Assistant Professor at a University College: Master’s degree
  • Subject Teacher at a Vocational Upper Secondary Education: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish official recognition
  • Upper Secondary School Teacher, Natural Sciences and Sports: Master’s degree + Danish official recognition
  • Independent School Teacher: Professional Bachelor’s degree
  • Primary School Teacher: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish official recognition
  • Child Care Worker/Support Worker: Professional Bachelor’s degree
  • Social Education Worker: Professional Bachelor’s degree
  • Special Education Teacher: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish official recognition

Economics, administration and sales

  • Auditor: Master’s degree
  • Accounting Controller: At least three years education at bachelor level
  • Financial Analyst: At least three years education at bachelor level

IT and communications technology

  • IT Architect: At least three years IT education at bachelor level
  • IT Engineer: At least three years IT education at bachelor level
  • IT Project Leader: At least three years education at university or business school level
  • IT Consultant: At least three years IT education at bachelor level
  • Programmer and System Developer: At least three years IT education at bachelor level
  • System Administrator: At least three years IT education at bachelor level

Law, social science and culture  

  • Legal Officer: Master’s degree
  • Psychologist: Master’s degree + Danish official recognition
  • Social Worker: Professional Bachelor’s degree
  • Priest: Master’s degree
  • Organist, cantor: At least three years education at bachelor level

Technician work in science, engineering, shipping and aviation 

  • Architectural Technology and Construction Manager: Professional Bachelor’s degree

Technicians and assistants in healthcare 

  • Dental hygienist: Professional Bachelor’s degree + Danish authorisation

POSITIVE LIST FOR SKILLED WORK

Science and Engineering Associate Professionals 

  • Laboratory Assistant
  • Geotechnician
  • Plumber
  • Machine Constructor
  • Foreman

Business and administration associate professionals

  • Import and Export Employee
  • Sales and Account Manager
  • Sales Consultant
  • Shipping Agent
  • Property Manager
  • Logistic Employee, sales and purchasing
  • Legal Secretary
  • Medical Secretary

Legal, social, cultural and related associate professions

  • Parish Clerk
  • Head Chef

General and Secretary Clerks 

  • Lead Office Clerk
  • Office Assistant

Numerical and material recording clerks

  • Bookkeeper
  • Bookkeeping and Accounting Clerk
  • Payroll Bookkeeper

Personal services workers 

  • Chef 

Personal care workers 

  • Social and Health Care Assistant: Danish authorisation

Market-oriented skilled agricultural workers 

  • Landscape Gardener

Building and related trades (excluding electricians) 

  • Bricklayer
  • Carpenter
  • Building Painter and Decorator

Metal, machinery and related trades workers

  • Welder
  • Blacksmith
  • Sheet Metal Worker
  • Industrial Technician
  • CNC-operator
  • Mechanic, passenger cars and vans
  • Crane Mechanic, agriculture and industrial machines
  • Agricultural Machinery Mechanic

Electrical and electronic trade workers 

  • Electrician

Food processing, wood working, garment making and other craft-related trade workers

  • Cabinetmaker

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For members

WORKING IN DENMARK

Why are Danish experts recommending closure of all job centres?

Recommendations made by an expert commission to the government on employment and welfare advocate for closure of all municipal job centres.

Published: 24 June 2024 17:32 CEST
Why are Danish experts recommending closure of all job centres?

Denmark’s job centres, which are responsible for administration of social welfare benefits for people seeking employment and of facilitating training and work placements under welfare lows, should be closed according to recommendations handed to the government on Monday.

Additionally, over half of the current rules related to unemployment benefits should be scrapped and 9 in 10 sanctions for people who fail to comply with criteria such as attending meetings or applying for a set number of jobs.

Denmark has two broad tiers for those out of work: dagpenge, which provides an income calculated on the person’s tax payments while in employment, and the more basic kontanthjælp.

Dagpenge is available to people who a paying members of a semi-private uninsurance provider called an Arbejdsløshedskasse or A-kasse, while kontanthjælp is available to everyone.

Both groups must comply with legal requirements related to job searching in order to receive the benefits they qualify for – these are administered by municipal job centres.

READ ALSO:

When the coalition government took office at the end of 2022 it stated that it wanted to save three billion kroner annually by reforming the municipal unemployment area and improving its efficiency – specifically by targeting job centres.

This has led to an expert group, appointed by the government, making six specific requirements – those announce on Monday.

The government is not obliged to follow the recommendations.

But the expert group says there is much to gain from closing job centres.

“There’s great potential in replacing the current one-size-fits-all system with a new approach where individual needs are in focus,” group chairperson Claus Thustrup Kreiner said in a press statement.

The six broad recommendations are as follows:

  • Fewer target groups and special rules
  • Individual programmes
  • More balanced sanctions system
  • Abolish job centres and introduce free organisation at municipalities
  • Give more influence to A-kasse and private interests
  • Results, not system-based approach

|Source: DR

“Our report includes recommendations for the biggest reform of the jobseeking area ever, and will make the system cheaper, simpler and more dignified without weakening employment,” Kreiner said.

The national confederation for trade unions, Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation (FH), criticised the costcutting element of the recommendations in comments to broadcaster DR, and also said it would reduce the options and rights of jobseekers.

“I thought this was about giving unemployed people more freedom to decide what they need,” FH chairperson Nanna Højlund said.

“But the expert group clearly sees it as being about allowing municipalities to do exactly what they want,” she said.

The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) welcomed the proposals.

“The expert group has proposed a simplification of employment with fewer rules and benefit categories and with a large saving” DI deputy director Steen Nielsen said in a statement.

“That is a good idea because it’s difficult to run a job centre efficiently with the many different criteria and rules that must be met for each of the many categories,” he added.

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