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WORKING IN DENMARK

Danish government in ‘labour mobility’ talks with India

Denmark said on Tuesday that it has initiated talks over a new labour mobility agreement with India.

Published: 4 April 2023 17:09 CEST
Danish government in 'labour mobility' talks with India
Indian PM Narendra Modi with Danish Crown Prince Frederik and PM Mette Frederiksen during a visit to Copenhagen in 2022. The two countries are in talks over a new labour mobility agreement. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The labour mobility talks are linked to an existing strategic green energy partnership between the two countries, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration said in a statement.

The ministry did not specify how, or whether, any agreement reached by the two countries could affect work permit rules.

“I am pleased that we have now initiated negotiations over a new mobility agreement between Denmark and India that can continue the extension of our partnership,” Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek said in the statement.

“As Danish immigration minister it is important for me to send a signal that foreign labour from India under the regulated working conditions is very welcome and valued,” he said.

“Indians are one of the nationalities with the highest recruitment frequency among non-Western immigrants in Denmark,” he said.

READ ALSO: Pay Limit Scheme: What to know about the changes to Denmark’s work permit programme

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said a new mobility agreement between the countries would be “an important element in the partnership promoting green growth, employment and transition to green energy”.

The objective of the existing strategic partnership between Denmark and India is to “strengthen political and economic partnership to accelerate green energy conversion,” according to the ministry press statement.

Denmark and India have announced a number of projects since the partnership was agreed in 2020, including a Danish-led project to cleanse part of the holy Ganges river.

The new mobility agreement would replace an existing deal from 2009, the Memorandum of Understanding on Labour Mobility.

A new agreement will “create a higher degree of bilateralism and encompasses more groups of persons, including students and researchers, and thereby support the green strategic partnership between Denmark and India,” the ministry said.

Denmark’s government wants to drive the transition to green energy globally through such partnerships, including “bilateral agreements with countries with the opportunity for exchange of education and young people,” it said.

As of January 1st, some 14,885 Indian nationals resided in Denmark according to immigration ministry figures. That number includes 3,626 children and young people under the age of 18.

The number of Indians who work full time in Denmark has increased considerably from just over 1,000 in 2008 to around 7,000 last year, official data published by the ministry show.

Just over 5,000 first-time work and residence permits were granted by Denmark to Indian nationals in 2022.

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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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