Michael de Laine

By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 5 May 2009

The unemployment rate for immigrants and their successors from non-Western countries rose by 6.8% between June 2008 and February 2009, while the rise for everyone else was over 40%, according to Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). The organisation adds that lenient immigration rules for foreign workers are an advantage for Denmark.

The unemployment rate for immigrants and their successors from non-Western countries rose by 6.8% between June 2008 and February 2009, while the rise for everyone else was over 40%, according to Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

These figures equate to an increase of respectively 40,000 and 2,000 people - and the rise in immigrant jobless includes only about 100 women, which indicates that immigrant women have a very good hold on the labour market in Denmark, DI added.

“The first people to be fired are not immigrants and their successors, which is what many people predicted and feared,” said Pernille Kiær, a labour market expert at DI. “This is a sign that many businesses are having success with integrating immigrants.”

Kiær added that many businesses praise immigrant labour for being stable and motivated.

She said other reasons why immigrants keep their jobs during the crisis include their representation in the service sector, which for some sectors has seen growth in a period of economic downturn. On the other hand, there are few immigrants in the construction industry, which has been hard hit by the downturn and lay-offs.

DI, a leading lobbying organisation for Danish business on national and international issues, added that lenient immigration rules for foreign workers are an advantage for Denmark.

While foreign specialists increase productivity and contribute new knowledge that benefits Denmark’s long-term development, the influx of labour from other countries, including Eastern Europe, helps to stabilise the economy in both booms and slumps.

“New research shows that Eastern European immigrants contribute positively to the public coffers,” the confederation said. “This is evidence that the abolition of the so-called East Agreement on 1 May is an advantage for Danish society.”

DI added that the recession affects the influx of foreign labour in several ways. “There was, for example, an increased influx of foreign specialists in the fourth quarter of 2008 and a marked decline in the influx of labour from the new EU countries in the same period,” the organisation said. “The overall immigration of foreign workers fell in 2008 as a result of the economic decline.”