The Copenhagen Post | August 24-30

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Eid chaos: one real and one imagined

The lovefest from the foreign press continues

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copenhagen

expat fair

Pancakes and handshakes at the Expat Fair

27 aUgUSt 201

2 • 15:30 - 18:00 the cit Y hall

connecting With SportS

aBcS to phDS

copenhagen YoUr neW hoMe

*aDVertiSing

SUppleMent*

BanK on gooD SerVice!

Expat Fair Supplemen

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22-08-2012

24 - 30 August 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 34

14:46:48

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk

The new face of the immigration debate?

Did TV2’s airing of Opening Ceremony run afoul of European Broadcasters Union’s statutes?

Journalist’s criticism of Immigration Services goes viral and leads to political promises

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OPINION

Always a stranger? New CPH Post Voices columnist Ôzcan Ajrulovski asks if he’ll ever be accepted as part of Denmark’s family

9 COMMUNITY

Israel’s deputy head of mission found that, despite the weather, Copenhagen made him jump for joy

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InOut

CHRISTIAN WENANDE

What’s cooking? The Copenhagen Cooking festival is back on the menu – see our guide to the tastiest picks on the programme

G2

9 771398 100009

Price: 25 DKK

International talent continues to forgo Copenhagen Room for improvement, but integration dilemmas, an inflexible job market, high taxes and stringent immigration laws all contribute to educated foreigners going elsewhere

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OPENHAGEN is lagging far behind other European cities when it comes to the recruitment and retention of international professionals. The think-tank Copenhagen Economics teamed up with the regional development organisation Reglab and found that the Danish capital is struggling to compete when it comes to attracting highly-skilled foreign labour. Copenhagen is in the second worst

category when it comes to the percentage of all highly-skilled workers being foreign. In 2010, only about 12 percent of the highly-skilled workers in the city were foreign, compared to over 35 percent in cities such as Brussels, London, Zürich and Vienna. In neighbouring Stockholm, it’s better too, at nearly 25 percent. Copenhagen also falters when it comes to the average annual growth rate of highly-skilled workers. Between 2000 and 2008, the growth rate in Copenhagen was measured at a paltry three percent, while it was well over ten percent in cities like Madrid, Helsinki and Dublin. A lack of openness, foreign investment and businesses choosing to only hire locally has led to an environment bereft of international experts, something the mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne), aims to change.

Free access to 70 museums and attractions in the entire metropolitan area

“We know that when we’re compared to cities like Stockholm, they’re doing better, and we will strive to raise the percentage of foreign skilled labour by five to ten percent,” Jensen told Navigation magazine. “And perhaps we’re not as open and welcoming to our foreign colleagues as we think we are.” There are plenty of reasons why Denmark should be trying to attract international talent to its windy shores rather than neglecting them. Skilled foreign workers contribute to the socio-economic arena by paying higher taxes than the average Dane, being less likely to seek social benefits and providing major boosts for the businesses that hire them, in terms of productivity, export and Denmark’s ability to compete internationally. “Two of Denmark’s biggest eco-

nomic challenges are low productivity development and problems financing the welfare state. Highly-educated foreign workers solve both issues,” Jan Rose Skaksen, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, told Navigation magazine. In the analysis report, ‘Højtuddannede invandreres bidrag til det danske samfund’ (Highly educated immigrants’ contributions to Danish society), Skaksen indicated that an average highly-educated immigrant, with family, stays in Denmark for eight years and contributes 1.9 million kroner to the tax coffers. Foreign talents also contribute to business in the form of knowledge of foreign markets, networks and cultures. Businesses can tap that knowledge to establish export deals and other business

Internationals continues on page 5

Macaroons & French pastry in a modern enviroment Brasserie Degas reopens its doors in a new location, presenting once again to all its customers, the famous club sandwich & foie gras salad

See more at copenhagencard.com

Brasserie Degas / Le Macaron by Degas - Trommesalen 5, 1614 Copenhagen V - www.brasseriedegas.dk - Tlf.: +45 33 22 28 26

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