A new agreement between employers and trade unions will allow more foreign labor to come to Denmark, TV 2 reports.
The agreement follows negotiations between the Danish Employers’ Association (DA) and the Danish Trade Union Confederation (FH), and will ease access for foreign workers from 16 selected countries outside the EU.
The government expects the scheme to initially bring around 550 foreign workers to Denmark, with employers believing that the future potential is much greater.
These are the 16 countries approved by the agreement:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Singapore
- China
- Japan
- Australia
- Canada
- India
- Brazil
- Malaysia
- Montenegro
- Serbia
- North Macedonia
- Albania
- Ukraine
- Moldova
The initiative was first proposed by Moderate Party leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen in 2023 and later received backing from 3F, laying the groundwork for the current agreement.
Lower salary threshold and ID cards
The plan lowers the minimum salary requirement for foreign workers from the current 514,000 DKK to 300,000 DKK per year. For sectors experiencing labor shortages, the threshold will be reduced from 415,000 DKK to the same 300,000 DKK.
Only companies covered by collective agreements will be allowed to hire foreign workers under the new rules.
As a term of the agreement, foreign employees must carry ID cards, which are expected to be introduced within five years, as the necessary IT system still needs to be developed.
Workplaces with union representatives will be required to provide access to information about individual workers’ pay and working conditions.
“This gives us better tools to ensure fair pay and proper conditions,” said FH chairman Morten Skov Christensen, who backed the deal together with other union leaders including FOA’s Mona Striib and 3F’s Henning Overgaard.
Supported by employers
The agreement also has the support of the Dansk Industri (DI) and the employers’ organization TEKNIQ, which represents technical businesses.
“The shortage of qualified employees cannot be solved only by sending more people to school or keeping seniors in the workforce. Foreign colleagues are absolutely necessary to meet the rising demand,” said TEKNIQ director Troels Blicher Danielsen.
However, Danielsen also expressed disappointment with the narrow scope of the plan, commenting:
“We would have liked to see a more ambitious approach than the 16 countries that companies can recruit from. If you really want to ensure qualified employees for the needs of the future, you have to ignore the color of the passport and welcome people broadly.”
Criticism from the opposition
The agreement has, however, faced strong criticism from parts of the opposition.
“The many seniors and people with disabilities here at home who want to contribute are being ignored – they are being kept out by a system that would rather source labor from the other side of the world. It is both unfair and harmful,” said Danish People’s Party chairman Morten Messerschmidt to TV 2.
