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Highly-skilled foreigners a boon for Denmark’s coffers
Christian Wenande
November 23rd, 2016
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This article is more than 8 years old.
Millions of kroner being pumped into the state coffers
Helping them get their bearings (photo: Pixabay)
Whether they come from Madrid, Mumbai or Montevideo, highly-skilled foreign workers boost state coffers when they come to Denmark.
A new report from the think-tank DEA on behalf of the confederation of Danish industry, Dansk Industri, reveals that highly-skilled workers who come to Denmark contribute millions of kroner to the state during their stay.
“When we look at the registry data regarding actual earnings and expenses, we can see that despite highly-skilled workers and their families also consuming Danish welfare goods, they are clearly good for business for the Danish state,” said Claus Aastrup Seidelin, a chief economist with DEA.
The report (here in Danish) found that highly-skilled workers who come to Denmark alone on average stay in Denmark for about 5.5 years and bring a total surplus of around 720,000 kroner to the state coffers.
Meanwhile, highly-skilled workers who come to Denmark with their families on average stay for 10 years and bring a total surplus of almost 2.2 million kroner to the public finances.
READ MORE: Law proposal will hinder Danes abroad returning with foreign spouses
More English, tak
Dansk Industri held its Global Talent Summit last week, and one of the issues discussed by experts and researchers was how to better attract, develop and retain talents from abroad.
Hideyasu Fujioka, one of four young talents who are part of the Global Talent Summit panel, told CPH POST he has been happy overall since relocating to Denmark from his native Japan to work as an engineer for the Danish company MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.
Fujioka said that English being the company’s official language has helped him acclimatise better, and he appreciates Denmark’s 37-hour working week as it is much shorter than in Japan and affords him more time with his family.
However, Fujioka felt that improvements could be made. Most official letters, he noted, are still mostly in Danish only, along with the automatic voice replies from the doctor and municipality.
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