Men with ‘non-Western’ immigrant backgrounds now have a higher employment total than their Danish counterparts in eight of Denmark’s 98 municipalities, SMVDanmark said in a press release.

Immigration has a “crucial role” in helping companies fill positions, particularly in locations outside of major cities, the organisation said.

An analysis carried out by SMVDanmark looks at how employment rates for people with backgrounds defined as “non-Western” have trended in recent years.

The analysis revealed positive trends at both the national and municipal levels, the organisation said.

In eight specific municipalities – all of them in rural areas – there are now more men with non-Western immigrant backgrounds working than Danes. The municipalities in question are Langeland, Lolland, Morsø, Rebild, Bornholm, Vordingborg, Vesthimmerland and Fanø.

“The group of non-Western immigrants has unfortunately generally had a weak attachment to the labour market in the past. However, in recent years, there has been a change where employment for this group has increased significantly,” Thomas Gress, a senior economist at SMVdanmark, said in the press release.

“This is really positive. The trend also means that we can now see, for the first time in several municipalities, that more men with non-Western backgrounds are employed than Danish men,” he added.

Nationally, employment has risen in general over the last 10 years. According to the SMVdanmark analysis, the increasing number of foreign nationals on the labour market has contributed to this.

From 2014 to 2024, the employment rate of non-Western immigrant men has increased from just under 42 percent to 59.1 percent, a rise of 17.1 percentage points. For non-Western immigrant women, employment has grown from 33.4 percent in 2014 to 48 percent in 2024 – an increase of 14.6 percentage points.

This means that, non-Western immigrants are the population group that has experienced the strongest employment growth.

“Without non-Western immigration, many municipalities would have faced a significant decline in employment. This is especially true in several outlying areas,” Gress said.

“Non-Western immigration is now a crucial prerequisite for growth and development in local communities outside the larger cities. There is an important task for municipalities and society as a whole to keep this group on the labour market and preferably increase the employment rate further,” he added.

Definitions

Statistics Denmark, as well as many authorities and public agencies in Denmark categorise people considered not of Danish heritage into two groups: ‘immigrants’ and ‘descendants’ of immigrants (‘efterkommere’).

A person is considered to be Danish if she or he has at least one parent who is a Danish citizen and was born in Denmark. People defined as ‘immigrants’ and ‘descendants’ do not fulfil those criteria. The difference between the two is that an ‘immigrant’ was born outside of Denmark, while a ‘descendant’ was born in Denmark. 

Meanwhile, all EU countries along with Andorra, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Vatican are considered ‘Western’.

Everywhere else – all of Latin America, Africa and Asia – is ‘non-Western’.