TV2 published a report on the rise in the percentage of non-Western immigrants in jobs in Denmark to 55.8%. In general, there has been significant progress in the Danish labor market over the past year and a half, which means that a record number of non-Western immigrants are currently employed.
At the end of October, 55.81 TP3T non-Western immigrants aged 15 to 64 were employed, representing an increase of 2.8 percentage points since the beginning of 2020. This is according to an analysis by the Business Council of the Workers' Association, based on figures from Statistics Denmark.
This is the highest percentage of jobs in the 13 years for which statistics exist in the region, with immigrant employment increasing by about 17,000 people from the beginning of 2020 until the third quarter of 2021.
The pandemic created new jobs
The social and health sector was the most prominent sector in which the employment of immigrants increased, with 4,100 people employed, in light of the great efforts for testing and vaccines related to the Corona pandemic, which created thousands of jobs.
In addition, there were thousands of jobs in other sectors of industry, trade, transportation, hotels, restaurants and the service sector, including cleaning, which were held by non-Western immigrants.
Despite the increase in the employment rate of immigrants of non-Western origin, it does not reach the desired level.
According to Danish statistics, the employment rate for people of Danish descent was 74-75% at the end of October.
A historic opportunity
Erik Björsted, chief economist at the Danish Business Council, believes there is now a historic opportunity to attract people on the fringes of the labor market into jobs. He said, “It’s a remarkable development. Non-Western immigrants, and especially non-Western women, have historically taken longer to return to the labor market after crises. We now have a historic opportunity to integrate more non-Western immigrants into the Danish labor market.”.
Skills and Continuing Education
Minister of Labor Peter Hummelgaard also confirmed that there is progress in many industries, and that the government will employ more people in jobs by imposing greater demands on people regarding receiving public support, which is planned to require 37 hours of work. In addition, the Minister of Labor points to the need to improve skills and continuing education, saying, “We must continue to ensure that there are good educational and training opportunities, and then we must - and perhaps this is the most important thing - make sure that demands are placed on those who have not contributed anything during the many years they have spent in Denmark.”.
