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News in Digest: Foreign workers crucial to future
Christian Wenande
October 21st, 2017
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This article is more than 7 years old.
Denmark, which needs to attract 70,000 professionals to safeguard future growth of 2.1 percent towards 2025, is keeping a close eye on Brexit
It comes with a catch though. They need to be the right kind of foreigners (photo: Pixabay)
According to a report from the economic councils De Økonomiske Råd, attracting 70,000 foreign workers will be a critical endeavour for future growth of 2.1 percent from 2019 to 2025.
However, the report suggests Denmark will face competition for the right kind of professionals and could end up having to make do with “refugees or [those] on family reunification [with] a significantly lower employment frequency”.
Nevertheless, De Økonomiske Råd expects the structural labour force in Denmark to increase by almost 115,000 by 2025, thanks to rises in the early retirement and pension ages.
Brexit ideally timed?
Dansk Industri believes that Brexit could offer a solution as there are thousands of EU citizens currently working in the UK who now face an uncertain future.
“We can use a lot of the EU citizens currently working in the UK,” DI deputy head Steen Nielsen told Bloomberg. “It’s pretty unclear what’s going to happen – the Brits don’t yet know what rules they’ll apply to EU workers.”
Nielsen expects competition from other European countries facing similar labour shortages.
Wooing London
Just last month, the finance minister, Brian Mikkelsen, visited London with representatives of the Danish capital to help promote Copenhagen as a financial centre.
The trip was part of the project ‘Consider Copenhagen’, which aims to promote the capital as a highly-respected financial environment, particularly within asset management and FineTech.
“Brexit could mean that a significant number of the companies and jobs at present in London will be looking towards new cities within the EU borders. And here I naturally see Copenhagen as an obvious candidate,” said Mikkelsen.
Asylum-seeker inroads
Denmark, though, is not putting all its eggs in one basket, and the ever-rising employment rate of asylum-seekers makes encouraging reading.
A new employment-orientated integration scheme that aims to quickly find jobs for asylum-seekers is being launched at Trampolinhuset on October 24.
With the support of TrygFonden and Tuborgfondet, in collaboration with the consultancy LG Insight, ‘Next Practice’ promises to increase the job prospects of candidates and save participating municipalities time and money. (CPH POST)
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