The Minister of Labor rejects opening the doors to foreign workers, and the alternative solution is criticized.

According to DR, citing Politiken, Labor Minister Annie Halsbowe Jørgensen does not want to open new doors to expanding the possibilities of obtaining more foreign workers for Denmark. Instead, the nearly 43,000 young Danes who do not have a job or education should go to work in companies, according to the minister, who also expressed her concerns that facilitating the recruitment of foreign workers would lead to a “distortion” that contradicts the immigration policy pursued by the Social Democrats: “As a government, we have to look at the whole thing… As a minister, I also have to think about what it means for the cohesion of Denmark if more people come to Denmark from countries outside the European Union.” This statement was met with criticism from experts and researchers - as will be discussed later.

This statement contradicts what was stated in the “Foundation of Government” document, which contains the foundations upon which the current SVM government was built, in which the government wrote that attracting qualified foreign workers is one of its areas of focus in the government institution, because companies find it difficult to obtain new employees.

Young people cannot solve the problem on their own.

According to the source, Thomas Bridgaard, a professor at the Aalborg University Employment Research Centre, has a different opinion. He believes the 43,000 young people cited by the minister are far from sufficient to address existing employment challenges: “It’s not enough to bridge the gap with that group, and many of them simply lack the skills required by the labor market.” He adds that this group alone is not the solution.

Sabina Boltz, a labor market researcher at Roskilde University, believes, according to what was published on the DR website, that this group does not have great potential in terms of labor shortages: “The analysis shows that 80% of the approximately 43,000 young people have a relatively simple explanation for why they are not in work or education. It is possible, for example, that they are on leave before enrolling in school. She explains that approximately 20% of them suffer from long-term problems.”.

Danish Industry Association (DI): Foreign workers are part of the solution

According to the source, the Danish Industry Association (DI) does not believe that focusing solely on young people is sufficient: “It is clear that foreign labor is part of the solution to the challenges. But it makes sense to also look at young people, but I do not think that young people have great potential on their own,” explains Steen Nielsen, Deputy Director of Danish Industry.

Challenges in numbers: Tens of thousands of jobs remain vacant

The latest employment survey conducted by the Danish Employment Agency shows that companies are finding it extremely difficult to get the people they want to hire. According to the survey, employers faced recruitment challenges in 22% of their attempts, and it was found that 39,300 recruitment attempts did not lead to employment in the period from September 2022 to February 2023 because the candidate did not meet the employer's requirements.

Municipalities' attempts to educate and employ young people through coercive measures

Thomas Bridgaard says that those without work or education often suffer from complex problems, have not had good experiences with the education system, and therefore many of them are unskilled. At the same time, an increasing number of them suffer from mental health problems – even serious ones – which are seen as part of the crisis of discontent that exists particularly among young people. He adds that municipalities have already tried to persuade that group to work, for example, through coercive measures, such as giving them educational orders in order to obtain cash benefits. He points out that what has succeeded from the measures are long-term efforts, where the municipality helps solve complex problems and gives people a constant contact that can help them in the labor market, but also after they find work, which is costly for municipalities, especially at a time when they are trying to reduce expenses.