COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — Danish employment numbers have been climbing steeply since the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the Ministry of Employment has announced that more than 3 million Danes were on a payroll in August 2023 — a new national record. And there are still more jobs going unfilled.
“We have now reached the magical 3 million mark," said Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, minister of employment, on Friday. "Never before have so many people in Denmark had a job. It is crucial for our society that so many work and contribute.”
The announcement followed weeks of heavy debate on Danish television and social media, after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, "Everyone who can work, must work." She also warned that if Danes do not "uphold their strong work ethic, our welfare state will not last."
With employment at an all-time high, industries are facing new difficulties recruiting skilled employees. According to Statistics Denmark, there were 57,000 job openings in the second quarter of 2023 in prominent sectors such as trade and transport, supply and raw materials, and business services.
At the Confederation of Danish Industry, leaders are clear about the challenges and the necessary solution. Deputy Director Steen Nielsen argued that the gap between supply and demand in the Danish job market will only shrink when the country opens its borders to more skilled international workers.
“We already use a lot of the available workforce at home," Nielsen said. "Unemployment is very low. It is mandatory that we bring in more labor from abroad. There are simply not enough resources on a national level."
He noted that one in eight employees in the country are from outside Denmark. The industry group has long argued for a political loosening of recruitment rules, so that employers can hire more easily from both within the European Union and elsewhere.
And even though the minister of employment has expressed concerns about a "feeling of cohesion" if there were to be an influx of foreign workers, Nielsen was optimistic. He referred to the broad government agreement from 2022, which lowers income and wealth requirements for workers coming to Denmark.
“There is a political willingness to bring in more people, as long as they comply with the Danish labor union rules on, for example, salary, working hours and rights,” he said. He added that the industry is calling to fill jobs from carpenters to industrial technicians to chauffeurs.
However, the problem extends beyond the private sector. Vacancies in Denmark’s public welfare sector, including hospitals, schools and nursing homes, are also expected to rise in the coming years, according to a 2022 report from the Danish Center for Social Science Research.
Labor market researcher Frederik Thuesen said the country faces a significant lack of professional nurses, doctors and health care staff in general.
“Furthermore, we are about to see a demographic shift, where a smaller generation of youngsters enter the job market to take over from a large group of retirees," Thuesen said. "The latter will require more care and nursing, which again increases the need for staff in hospitals and nursing homes.”
Thuesen also found it unlikely that the country can cover its need for labor locally. He pointed to statistics from the government agency for the labor market and recruiting, which show the number of non-EU workers coming to the country has increased from roughly 13,000 to 31,000 annually in the decade since 2012.
Denmark has hired about 100 nurses from Iran every month recently, as reported by TV 2. Nurses see on social media that Denmark needs help in the health sector.
It is important to bring in people from other parts of the world if Denmark wants to maintain a healthy labor market, Thuesen said.
“Since the enlargement of the EU in 2004, we have received a lot of workers from Eastern European countries such as Poland or Romania," Thuesen said. "But now their economies have grown, so it is no longer as attractive salary-wise for people to leave. Denmark is competing with other European member states that are in the same situation, with booming employment and yet still a need for a bigger workforce.”
There are three ways for non-EU citizens to get a fast-track work and residency permit in Denmark. They can be invited to take a job on the "positive list" of skilled professions, where there is a shortage of qualified applicants, or simply a job that pays at least 375,000 Danish kroner (about $53,000) a year.
The new fast-track system opens the doors for certain groups such as researchers, high-paid workers, short-term workers, and skilled workers performing or receiving training.
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