Denmark’s integration programme does not work as it should and needs
reform to get more refugees and immigrants into work. This will be
central to a proposed new Danish integration policy which the
government is presenting soon.
Less than one in four refugees and immigrants in Denmark are
self-sufficient one year after arriving in the country, and two in
three participants in the three year long Danish integration programme
are not in work or education at the end of it.
There is broad cross-party agreement that far too few get a job and
that the integration programme is in need of reform. The social
partners also support this view. There is still some way to go before a
political consensus can be reached for just how this will happen, but
it looks like the new integration programme will be more flexible and
shorter than the existing one.
At least that is the recommendation from a committee of experts who
recently advised the government on the matter. The committee is headed
by the former Minister for Taxation Carsten Koch, who has been asked to
look at Danish employment policies and come up with suggestions for how
it can be improved.
Closer cooperation with businesses
The committee’s first report came one year ago. The second one —
looking at the integration into the labour market of refugees and
immigrants and people on family reunion — was presented on 19 January
2015. It makes three main suggestions:
- More business-related measures
- A shorter, more intensive integration programme
- Following up those who do not get a job as a result of the
integration programme.
The experts highlight the need for closer cooperation with
businesses and measures like subsidised jobs or internships.
“Business-related measures work best when it comes to getting newly
arrived people into work,” Carsten Koch said when he presented the
committee’s recommendations.
Urgent
The government has asked the committee to present its results
earlier than planned. The increase in the number of refugees to Denmark
has made it urgent to improve the country’s integration measures, says
the Minister for Employment, Henrik Dam Kristensen (the Social
Democratic Party)
“We are facing an urgent challenge with the increase in refugees
from Syria and elsewhere, and it is crucial that we do not repeat past
mistakes. We need integration measures built on rights and duties which
make sure that refugees who are able to work find a place in the Danish
labour market and in Danish society as soon as possible,” the minister
said in a comment to the Carsten Koch committee’s
recommendations.
Just how the government will go about achieving this is still not
known. Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (the Social Democratic
Party) did use her new year’s speech to tell the Danish people that new
refugees should work, no matter how long they would be staying in
Denmark, that her goal was to get as many refugees and immigrants as
possible into the labour market. Those who can’t might be asked to
carry out different kinds of tasks:
“Others can get started with some of the tasks which also need to be
carried out. We have beaches which need tidying. We have kindergartens
where the sandpits or swings need fixing,” the Prime Minister
said.
Praise from the municipalities
In Denmark the municipalities are responsible for the implementation
of employment and integration measures and for running the job centres.
They are very positive to the Carsten Koch committee’s proposals
for more flexible and business-oriented measures aimed at newly arrived
refugees and people on family reunion, and for speeding up the mapping
of their qualifications and skills.
The Confederation of Danish Employers (DA) is also positive to the
Carsten Koch committee’s recommendations, but DA wants to see more
economic incentives and the inclusion of immigrants who have lived in
Denmark for a longer period of time.
There is not much support for the Prime Minister’s proposal to make
refugees and immigrants on family reunion carry out menial jobs on
beaches and in kindergartens, however. The government’s parliamentary
base, the municipalities and the government’s own expert group are all
sceptical to the idea of turning refugees into menial workers. The
Prime Minister’s suggestion is not mentioned at all in the Carsten Koch
committee’s report.
