Government promises reforms to attract skilled foreign workers

Chamber of commerce says reforms are needed to lure needed talent to Danish businesses

Dansk Erhverv, the Danish chamber of commerce, and major companies like Novo Nordisk are calling on the government to institute reforms they say are needed to attract more highly-skilled workers to the country.

Among the suggestions submitted to the employment minister,Mette Frederiksen (S), are the active recruitment of workers with the skills and education that businesses say they need, a reduction in the minimum income barrier and changes in educational policy so that Denmark pays only to educate international students in those areas where businesses say they need specialists.

Frederiksen said she has heard the message and promised to start reforms designed to get companies the workers they need.

Business leaders say that red tape, ever-changing immigration laws and a lack of co-ordinated effort among local and national authorities discourage foreign workers from coming to work in Denmark, and that both businesses and workers are losing out on the diversity and richness that different cultures provide.

“Foreigners bring money and new ideas into the country,” Tina Horwitz, the executive secretary of the Consortium for Global Talent, told Berlingske newspaper. The consortium counts some of the country’s largest companies like DONG Energy, Carlsberg and Vestas among its members.

A recent study conducted by the chamber suggested that Danes need to be more open to foreigners once they do decide to work here. The study polled 556 expats currently working in Denmark and found that only one in ten of the foreign workers believed that Danes were “very open” to them. Fully one fourth of those responding said that they found Danes “very closed”.

“Danes are good at networking with each other, but rarely with foreigners,” Horwitz said.

The chamber projects that by 2020 Denmark will be short some 15,000 highly-educated and skilled workers needed to maintain the country’s current level of international competition.

“Many of those workers will have to come from abroad,” Jannik Schack Linnemann, the chamber’s chief researcher, told Berlingske. “We need to be better at welcoming them.”

Linnemann called the requests being made to the government a “first step” and a signal that businesses have not forgotten the administration’s promises to work to get them get the skilled workers they need. The chamber wants a campaign spotlighting Denmark’s economic, cultural and lifestyle benefits.

Charlotte Mark, the CEO of Microsoft’s development centre emphasised that Denmark needs to be more competitive to attract skilled foreigners who can often often can pick and choose between jobs around the world.

Ray Weaver

16 Apr 2012

http://jp.dk/uknews/article2751337.ece

Go to Denmark if you want a happy life, says UN report

Expats seeking a happy life should consider the Nordic countries as Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands have been found to be the happiest in the world by a United Nations commissioned research report.

Their average life evaluation score is 7.6 on a 0 to 10 scale and political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption are judged together to be more important than income.

At an individual level, good mental and physical health, someone to count on, job security and stable families are judged to be crucial, the first ever World Happiness published by the Earth Institute shows.

According to co-editor Jeffrey Sachs, it reflects a new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness and absence of misery as criteria for government policy. It reviews the state of happiness in the world today and shows how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness.

Happier countries tend to be richer countries. But more important for happiness than income are social factors like the strength of social support, the absence of corruption and the degree of personal freedom.

Over time as living standards have risen, happiness has increased in some countries, but not in others, for example, the United States.

‘The United States, has achieved striking economic and technological progress over the past half century without gains in the self reported happiness of the citizens. Instead, uncertainties and anxieties are high, social and economic inequalities have widened considerably, social trust is in decline, and confidence in government is at an all-time low. Perhaps for these reasons, life satisfaction has remained nearly constant during decades of rising Gross National Product (GNP) per capita,’ said Sachs.

On average, the world has become a little happier in the last 30 years by 0.14 times the standard deviation of happiness around the world.

The research found that unemployment causes as much unhappiness as bereavement or separation. At work, job security and good relationships do more for job satisfaction than high pay and convenient hours.

Behaving well also makes people happier. The report says that mental health is the biggest single factor affecting happiness in any country. Yet only a quarter of mentally ill people get treatment for their condition in advanced countries and fewer in poorer countries.

Stable family life and enduring marriages are important for the happiness of parents and children. It also found that in advanced countries, women are happier than men, while the position in poorer countries is mixed and happiness is lowest in middle age.

Ray Clancy

5 Apr 2012

http://www.expatforum.com/general-considerations/go-to-denmark-if-you-want-a-happy-life-says-un-report.html

e-Skills and Jobs: Copenhagen Declaration Launched at European e-Skills Week Closing Event

The European e-Skills Week 2012 campaign celebrates its conclusion in Copenhagen, in conjunction with the Danish EU Presidency.

Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark welcomed students, industry leaders and officials gathering from more than thirty countries to discuss how future jobs and future education will shape Europe, and to launch the Copenhagen Declaration on e-Skills.

e-Skills are needed across all sectors of the European economy, and ever more sought after by employers who have challenges to fill vacancies. Even during the crisis, employment has increased by 3% for technical and highly e-Skilled professions.

The growing professional ICT shortage threatens to lead to a Europe-wide shortfall by as many as 700,000 professionals by 2015. Further, engineering and computer science graduates have been in continuous decline in all EU countries since 2006. A case in point is the UK where IT student numbers have plunged from 31% to 17% in 2009.

Eurostat research reveals that e-Skills gaps are particularly large in Ireland, Belgium, and Malta, but also in countries considered “frontrunners” in terms of digital literacy and e-skills availability in the workforce – such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

The European e-Skills Week 2012 is an initiative of the European Commission and aims to address the need for digital talents and job creation in Europe by raising awareness about the importance of ICT related opportunities for citizens and organisations.

Closing event highlights include a prize giving ceremony for e-Skills Week Competition Winners who came to Copenhagen from eight member states, debate between young entrepreneurs and leading industries, and the launch of the e-Skills Copenhagen Declaration. Signed by thirty nine organisations, the Declaration demonstrates massive support across the EU for the European Commission objectives outlined in the Communication e-Skills for the 21st century.

The Copenhagen Declaration is a complement to the latest version of e-Skills Manifesto, which will be published in full in June 2012; a summary interactive version of the Manifesto is available for comments on line.

30 Mar 2012

Why Denmark!

The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark), is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting of the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America.

The Danes are, overwhelmingly, a happy bunch. In fact, if you believe those contentment surveys that come out every couple of years, Denmark is one of the happiest nations on earth with some of the best quality of life. Along winding cobbled streets Danes shop and dine at some of the most exciting places in Europe. Copenhagen’s restaurants have more Michelin stars than any other Scandinavian city, and Denmark as a whole would doubtless have more still if the inspectors from Michelin ever troubled themselves to leave the capital and head for Aalborg or Århus & around. Even standards in a workaday Danish café are generally very high.

Beyond the capital and the bigger cities, Denmark offers a mix of lively towns such as Ribe and Odense plus rural countryside, medieval churches, Renaissance castles and tidy 18th-century villages. Neolithic dolmen, preserved 2000-year-old ‘bog people’, and impressive Viking ruins are just some of the remnants of the nation’s long and fascinating history.

Denmark continues to stamp its effortlessly cool style on the world with its furniture, fashion, architecture and graphic design, as it has done for the last half-century or so. This obsession with good design, detail and fine craftsmanship is evident even in something as mundane as a Copenhagen metro or train ride.

Centuries on from the Viking era, Denmark remains very much a maritime nation, bordered by the Baltic and the North Sea. No place in the country is more than an hour’s drive from its lovely seashore, much of which is lined with splendid white-sand beaches.

Denmark’s hydrocarbon-rich economy is booming; it has the highest per capita GDP in the European Union (EU); literacy is 100%; unemployment is low; and its social-welfare programmes are the envy of continents. Education is free, and about half of all Danish students who graduate from secondary school continue on to higher education.

You don’t need statistics to understand the Dane’s happy lot, though. Stroll around Copenhagen or pretty much any Danish town and you’ll experience some of the most harmonious civic spaces anywhere. The capital’s intimate scale and faultless transport systems combine with the ornate history and bold modern lines of the built environment to delight the eye, while the locals’ courtesy and sense of humour is refreshing.

It’s hard, in short, to find fault with the place. The visitor’s most heartfelt grumble is usually the cost of visiting Denmark. True, it is not a cheap destination, but no more so than the UK, and which nation’s public transport system would you rather use?

Cheer yourself up by thinking of the country’s peerless organisation and clockwork railway timetable as being subsidised by the extremely high taxes paid by your hosts. When viewed in this way, this first-rate destination seems like good value, and you get the fairy tales thrown in for free: the Danish royal family is genuinely loved and respected by the vast majority of its citizens, not least handsome Prince Frederik, his beautiful Australian-born princess-bride, Mary, and their young family.

Working in Denmark

In recent years, Denmark has attracted foreign labor for large number of industries. Denmark expects that in the coming years there will be an increasing need for foreign labor.

Many foreign nationals are free to live and work in Denmark. However, some are required to hold a residence and work permit. The specific requirements in connection with living and working in Denmark depend on a person’s nationality and qualifications.

Workplace culture in Denmark varies from company to company. But even though there is no single work culture, there are some specifics that seem to characterize the experiences of expats working here. Such as:

  • Flat management structures
  • Excellent Teamwork
  • Work-life balance

Many expats are surprised by these characteristics of Danish work culture, and in the beginning some can pose a challenge. However, many expats express that as they become familiar with the culture, they come to both see and value the individual and corporate benefits, and many of them actually end up valuing the workplace culture.

Immigrating to Denmark

Denmark is a democratic society that offers freedom, responsibility and equal opportunity for all regardless of gender, race, cultural background and way of life. Everyone is free to think, speak and write what they feel, form associations, practice their religion or follow an alternative way of life. Personal freedom and equality are fundamental values in Danish society – limited only by the need to respect the personal freedom and equality of others.

Denmark provides many jobs for overseas people with required skills. While working in Denmark you become eligible for Denmark PR. Getting a permanent residency of Denmark will let the migrant settle and enjoy the benefits given to a resident of Denmark. A client already having visa of Denmark can take our services like job assistance and get settled in Denmark.

Danish Green Card

Danish Green Card (Denmark Green Card) is a pathway to Denmark Immigration. If you are a professional who wants to work, live & settle in the European Union, the Danish Green card gives you the opportunity. It is a point based system very much like the UK or Australia or Canada.

Of you score 100 points you get a green card that allows you work and settle in Denmark under the Danish Green Card (Denmark Green Card).

Under the scheme, non-European Union skilled migrants are allowed to come to Denmark under a renewable 3 years permit for the purpose of finding work.

If you meet the eligibility criteria, you file your application & receive your visa in 6 to 12 months! It allows you to enter and live in Denmark on a PR Visa. As soon as you find a job, you are granted a permit to work.

Y-Axis is India’s No. 1 Overseas Careers & Immigration Consultant; Experts in Visas, Immigration, Job Search & Admissions. Contact us for FREE Counseling & Evaluation. We provide Full Service & Processing for the Danish Green Card.

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Copenhagen Capacity Continues To Create Danish Jobs

1,368 new jobs in the Copenhagen region. This is one of the results achieved in 2011 by Copenhagen Capacity, an organisation set up to attract investment to Copenhagen and the Copenhagen region. In 2012, the organisation will be aiming to make the Copenhagen region even more attractive as a destination for foreign companies and talent. There is a need for both if jobs and growth are to continue being created in the region

- 2011 was a significant year for Copenhagen Capacity. In line with our strategy, we made a strong start and despite a difficult market we managed to stay ahead of our objective all through the year. A strong 2011 has set the scene for 2012 where part of the goal is the further development of central clusters with international potential as well as attracting more foreign talent to Denmark, says Copenhagen Capacity’s managing director, Claus Lønborg.

In November last year, Copenhagen Capacity was able to announce that the total from its record year in 2010 had already been passed. In 2011, the organisation played a part in the creation of 1,368 new jobs in 32 investment cases, which is an increase of 15.5% compared to 2010.

Talent and clusters create growth

Copenhagen Capacity’s enhanced efforts within the clusters and the attraction and retention of foreign talent has meant an increase in the number of employees in the organisation and also a new organisational structure. In 2012, these changes will ensure that the organisation will play an even greater role in raising the profile of the Copenhagen region. Claus Lønborg explains:

- In a globalised world it is a fact that companies establish themselves in the best places for them to carry out their business. In 2011 we have therefore set up an increased number of projects in close cooperation with municipal, regional, and national players with the aim of making the Copenhagen region an even more attractive destination for foreign companies.

At the end of 2011 Copenhagen Capacity, working closely with a number of public and private players, obtained funding for initiating the “Copenhagen Talent Bridge” project that aims to attract more international talent in the shape of specialists and international students to companies and educational establishments in Denmark.

- The access to strong clusters and a qualified workforce is a global competitive parameter nowadays and is an important asset in making the Copenhagen region the leading destination for foreign investment in Europe, says Claus Lønborg.

8 Mar 2012

http://www.copcap.com/content/us/quick_links/news/latest_news/2012/

news_1st_quarter_2012/copenhagen_capacity_continues_to_create_danish_job

Want to get ahead? Move to Denmark

‘There are no classes in America,’ says the man in the sweater-vest, Rick Santorum.

America doesn’t have a class system. That’s a European thing, right?

Here in the Land of the Free, you can be born in a log cabin you helped to build, overcome poverty and pull yourself by your pioneer bootstraps – all the way up to the White House. Or even Wall Street.

Despite a shed-load of evidence to the contrary, many still swallow this New World fairy tale. Rick Santorum is one of the few Republican candidates warning that economic mobility in the US lags behind western Europe. Nevertheless, debating his Republican rivals before the New Hampshire primary, the former senator got positively hostile over all the talk of “middle-class” hardship, claiming that merely using the c-word somehow “buys into the class warfare arguments of Barack Obama”. With all the certainty of a man who refuses to believes in evolution, Santorum said, “There are no classes in America.”

It would be pretty to think so. However, the reality is that America is more class-bound than other advanced nations. If you really want to achieve the American Dream, move to Denmark. A child born into the bottom fifth on the income scale in Denmark will almost certainly better his economic situation: only one quarter of those at the economic thin end stay there. The same is true of other Scandinavian countries.

Britain, with its royals and its rituals, its titles and its toffee-nosed traditions, has always been the class system poster child for Americans (I’m looking at you, Lady Mary Crawley!). We’re hooked on the upstairs-downstairs exotica of Downton Abbey, yet Americans should know that people in the UK have a greater chance than we do of improving their financial circumstances – 42% of Americans never escape the lowest income bracket, compared to 30% of Brits.

A recent report from the Pew Charitable Trust’s Project on Economic Mobility confirms what previous studies showed: if you’re born into the underclass, you’re likely to die there, as stuck in your station as a Victorian housemaid. Similarly, if you’re born to highly-educated parents with a fat stock portfolio and a house in the Hamptons – or maybe if your mother is a member of Congress (over half of them are millionaires) – your grandchildren probably won’t have to sweat the school fees or the holidays in St Barts.

American income inequality is becoming positively third world, with some of the richest US states having the largest populations of poor people. In California, 22% live in poverty. In Florida, it’s 20%. The citizens are getting restless. The Pew study also shows that two thirds of all Americans think social inequality is more damaging to the nation than racism.

The question is, what will we do about it? Or, more specifically, what will President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney (the Republican presidential nominee-presumptive) do about it?

Campaigning in 2008, Obama didn’t like to talk about class. He embraced American optimism (all that “hope”) and unity, proclaiming “there’s not a conservative America and a liberal America, there’s the United States of America.” Inspiring, if largely inaccurate. These days, the excesses of the 1%ers are so egregious and in-your-face that it would be political malpractice to ignore them. Obama has taken to pointing out that those who created much of America’s economic success don’t benefit from it; now, he says he’s a “warrior for the middle class”.

Romney is still trying to win votes from Tea Partiers, Southern Baptist supply-siders and readers of Ayn Rand comic books. So far, he’s had a tin ear for the country’s anger. In Iowa last summer, he snapped at a heckler, “Corporations are people, my friend.”

Unlike Santorum, Romney name-checks the middle class, even claims to be part of it. You know: just a regular guy who happens to be worth more than $250m. He complains that making an issue of income inequality plays into the envy raging in the breasts of the less-favored. He told an interviewer:

“The president has made it part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach.” Romney’s solution? “I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms.”

Of course: like gentlemen, perhaps in the Grill Room at the Harvard Club, over a Cognac and a Cohiba.

America isn’t about to erupt in a full-blown class war: our revolution didn’t pit the peasants against the aristos; it was the bourgeoisie (led by plantation owners) versus the taxing authority of the king and Parliament. Nevertheless, we’ve started using the language of the sans culottes. The right wing accuses Michelle Obama of behaving like Marie Antoinette whenever she wears a new dress, and charges Barack Obama, with his Ivy League degree, with being a card-carrying member of the hated “elite”. Progressives counter that Mitt Romney was born into privilege and – far worse – made millions as a “vulture capitalist” on Wall Street.

Romney’s Republican opponents have painted him as a heartless rich boy thoughtlessly shutting down factories and throwing people out of work. No doubt, the Democratic party will write them a nice “thank you” note later. Romney’s new strategy is the Tea Party’s old strategy: Obama isn’t a real American. At his New Hampshire victory speech, he claimed that Obama “takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe”, instead of “the cities and small towns of America”, and wants to transform the country into a “European-style entitlement society”. (It’s weird: first Republicans said Obama was African, now he’s European. If he’s not careful, they’ll eventually decide he’s really just another white guy.)

If nothing else, this election might get Americans to admit that, yes, we have a class system, no matter how much we try to deny it. Writers have been trying to tell us about it for years, we just didn’t listen. Here’s Kurt Vonnegut describing it back in 1965:

Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun.

Diane Roberts

17 Jan 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/17/want-to-get-ahead-move-to-denmark

The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance

Northern Europe leads the world in laying out a social safety net for children and poorer parents, but the U.S. snags a top-five finish in the key “Working Mothers” category

800px-Kongens_Nytorv,_Copenhagen.jpg

Copenhagen

With the lowest child-poverty rate among developed nations, Denmark was named the best country for work-life balance in a 2011 report from the OECD.

All three Scandinavian countries — Denmark, Sweden, and Norway — finished in the top seven in the ranking. So famous for their generous social safety net, which sharply divides liberals and conservatives between envy and consternation, northern Europe dominated the list, taking almost all the top ten spots.

What constitutes a balance between work and life? The OECD settled on three chief variables: (1) The share of the labor force that works very long hours (more than 50 hours a week); (2) time spent on “leisure and personal care” (defined in contrast to paid or unpaid work as spending time with friends, going to the movies, pursuing hobbies, sleeping, eating, etc.); and (3) employment rates for women who have children. The United States, which leads most of the world in share of mothers who are working, lagged in leisure time and share of overworked employees.

The OECD chided the U.S. for insufficient investment in child welfare and for being “the only OECD country without a national paid parental leave policy.” But leave is short for a reason, they wrote: Much of our welfare is run through our tax code, which means we have to work for our welfare. “US family well-being is strongly linked to employment because a significant proportion of public family support is delivered via tax breaks and credits (45% of total compared to 10% on average in the OECD),” the report found.

Perhaps the most surprising statistics in the survey concerned Germany. Europe’s juggernaut recently set yet another record for low unemployment, but its family-work dynamic is one of Europe’s most fraught. Only three developed countries have fewer babies per woman than Germany. The average first-time mother is as old as any country in the OECD (30), and the career costs of having a child are sky-high:

German mothers with adult children have, on average, earned less than half of the total working-life earnings of otherwise similar female employees. At 25% of median earnings, gender pay gaps are well above the OECD average (16%). Mothers spend twice as much time on care than men (over 20% against less than 10%). Germany is the only OECD country where the tax/benefit system does not favour second earners in families with children.

Compare with the Netherlands, where Dutch women work almost 2 hours more per day than men, and female employment has climbed to over 70%, if you count part-time work.

Derek Thompson

4 Jan 2012

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/the-23-best-countries-for-work-life-balance-we-are-number-23/250830/

Report points to robotics as a major driver of job creation

A report published in Japan suggests robotics will be a major driver for global job creation over the next five years.

The report is the result of research carried out by Metra Martech entitled Positive Impact of Industrial Robots on Employment and claims that one million industrial robots currently in operation have been directly responsible for the creation of close to three million jobs.

A statement from the International Federation of Robotics asserts that the growth in robot use over the next five years will result in the creation of one million high-quality jobs around the world in industries such as consumer electronics, food, solar and wind power, and advanced battery manufacturing.

The report highlights that between 2000–08, manufacturing employment increased in nearly every major industrialised country, even as the use of robotics increased sharply.

This same pattern is now being seen in China, Brazil, and other emerging countries as they increase their use of robotics.

In Brazil, the number of robots almost quadrupled during the study period with production and employment rising by more than 20 per cent.

The report’s author, Peter Gorle, highlighted three critical areas of growth in robotic deployment: where robots carry out work in areas that would be unsafe for humans; where robots carry out work that would not be economically viable in a high-wage economy; and where robots carry out work that would be impossible for humans.

Odense, Denmark, is cited as a relevant illustration of robots saving jobs in high-wage countries.

Shipbuilding in Europe has been in steep decline over the last two to four decades, but robots have reportedly been key to efficiency savings at the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark.

The company is said to have invested in an autonomous, robotic arc welding system that has yielded big dividends. Odense Steel Shipyard has increased productivity by a factor of six when compared with manual welding, speeded up production time and made quality improvements, while also protecting the jobs of qualified welders.

The report concluded that the growth of high-tech industries such as the electronics and semiconductor sector, and the pharmaceutical sector, was significantly assisted by robots providing the required quality, precision, speed and traceability that cannot be achieved manually.

The report’s authors studied companies with more than 250 employees in sectors including automotive, electronics and plastics. Respondents were drawn from Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Korea and the USA — countries considered representative of the global economy.

11 Nov 2011
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/production-engineering/news/report-points-to-robotics-as-a-major-driver-of-job-creation/1010863.article

“New era” for nation’s immigration debate

New regime abolishes Immigration Ministry and begins dismantling last government’s anti-immigrant legacy

For the past decade, immigration and integration have been the most contentious elements in Danish politics. Over the tenure of the Liberal-Conservative (VK) government and its ally, the fervently anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF), the rules for residency permits, family reunification, asylum and citizenship changed constantly – nearly always becoming stricter– and the immigration debate became more and more charged.

With one fell swoop, the new Social Dem-Social Lib-Socialist People’s Party (S-R-SF) coalition this week sent a strong signal that all of that is about to change. Read more »

Sisters doin’ it for themselves

Immigrant and Danish women volunteers achieving milestones through mentorship

What began as a small experiment in equality and integration eight years ago in Copenhagen has turned into a model for volunteer mentorship programmes around the world.

The idea, the brain child of the Danish Centre for Information on Gender, Equality and Ethnicity (KVINFO), was fairly simple: take 12 accomplished Danish women willing to volunteer a bit of their time, match them up one-on-one with 12 immigrant women new to Denmark, ask them to co-create mentorship plans based on the mentees’ goals, and see what happens.

What happened was bigger than anyone expected. With their mentors’ support, the mentees learned to navigate the Danish system, found jobs, began new educations, and their Danish networks grew. Read more »