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Businesses prefer eastern Europeans
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June 25th, 2013
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This article is more than 11 years old.
No longer an emergency measure, foreign workers are here to stay, study finds
Workers from eastern Europe are filling more and more spots in the nation's workplaces.
According to a study of more than 800 businesses by workplace research institute Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmarkeds- og Organisationsstudier (FAOS), eastern European workers work harder, are more willing to work extra hours and take less sick days than Danes.
More than 40 percent of the businesses that responded to the study said that the main reason for using foreign workers was a lack of Danish applicants.
The study also revealed that foreign workers are often paid less than Danes. On an average they earn about 128 kroner per hour.
FAOS head Søren Kaj Andersen said the foreign workforce is here to stay.
"Eight out of 10 businesses say that eastern European workers are now part of their regular operations and not just stop gap measures to be brought onboard during busy periods," he said.
The head of national employers’ association Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (DA), Jørn Neergaard Larsen, accused the FAOS report of being riddled with “myths” about eastern European workers.
“It shows that unemployment offices are incompetent if they can’t spot the openings in Danish companies yet the foreign workers can,” Larsen told Politiken newspaper.
Six percent of businesses responding to the study said they had been forced to use foreign workers primarily because they received no applications from Danes.
“It’s not a lack of skill,” Andersen said.
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