Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Immigrants in Denmark

It's been a while since we posted anything, but unfortunately we are very busy. We do not finish school for another month, so right now is crunch time. Plus, we have to plan our holidays.

So, to tide you over, here are a few stories about immigrants in Denmark:

First, the poorest neighbourhood in Copenhagen (the “ghetto”) has decided that the best way to improve living conditions and property values would be to limit the number of non-Danes who live there.

Second, a recent study has shown that ONLY 30% on immigrant now feel actively discriminated against. This is a “great improvement” from the 43% five years ago. Politicians everywhere are proud, saying that this shows a new level of Danish tolerance. Actually, over the last five years, the Danish government has become distinctly anti-immigration, enacting several laws to limit new immigrants. In our opinion, this study could just be showing that the 13% of immigrants who felt most discriminated-against have left, and no new immigrants have been allowed to take their place…

Third, another study investigated the best traits for an immigrant to have in order to find employment in Denmark:

  • At least second-generation immigrant (preferably third)
  • Has worked previously in Denmark (for a Danish company)
  • Has Danish spouse
  • Has employed spouse
  • Not a refugee (or a relative of a refugee)
  • Fluent in Danish

The authors of the study commented that immigrants often wrongly feel that they cannot find work. Apparently ignoring the absurdity of their own results, they said that any immigrant can easily find work in Denmark (provided they possess all of the above qualities).