Almost half of all Danes believe that bosses should hire their countrymen ahead of foreigners when searching for new employees, according to a new survey compiled by analysis institute Wilke on behalf of Avisen.dk
Out of the 956 Danes asked, 48 percent said that Danish bosses had a moral responsibility to hire Danes, while 33.1 percent maintained they should go after the best and cheapest employee. The remaining 18.9 percent didn’t know.
Jens Arnholtz, a labour market researcher at the University of Copenhagen, argues that their answer has much to do with society being responsible for taking care of one another, and not just the state.
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Foreigners in agriculture
Danish companies enjoy the support of the public sector via education, the health sector and unemployment funds, so Danes also expect to be employed, even though it is illegal discrimination, he argued.
“The solidarity we have with one another means that others are left out,” Arnholtz told Avisen.dk. “On one side, the Danes are happy with a joint labour market in the EU, but then again, they are not willing to sacrifice their solidarity for it yet.”
Foreign workers have particularly taken over Danish jobs in the agricultural sector. According to employment figures released by the 3F union newspaper Fagbladet 3F in March, from 2009-2013, 8,134 Danes lost their jobs in the industry, while 7,758 eastern Europeans were hired.
