An extra 2,200 international employees have come to Lolland-Falster in recent years, so that the number is now over 3,300 in total. This is shown by a new analysis from Danish Industry.
Ten years ago, international employees made up just four percent of the workforce in Lolland Municipality. Today, more than one in eight employees at workplaces in the municipality is from a country other than Denmark. In Guldborgsund, the figure has increased from four to eight percent in the same period.
– It is positive that we have been able to attract so many international employees to Lolland-Falster in recent years, especially in Lolland Municipality. And they are badly needed, because unemployment in Denmark is historically low, and companies are clamoring for more employees, says director of DI Lolland-Falster, Jakob Søndergaard Nielsen, in a press release.
The Fehmarn project has created great demand
A third of the international employees in the area come from Poland, which is by far the largest group.
– The construction of the Fehmarn-Bælt connection has naturally created a great demand for employees in the construction industry here in the area, where there is a need for special skills. Therefore, we also hope that more newly transferred employees on the project will settle permanently in Lolland-Falster, says Jakob Søndergaard Nielsen.
Every third person in construction is a foreigner
In the construction companies in Lolland-Falster, more than one in three employees is an international employee. In service professions, agriculture and the hotel and restaurant industry, it is one in four.
Lolland-Falster International Community
The many international employees have created fertile ground for the Lolland-Falster international Community network. The network is informal, but every Tuesday morning there is “Blue Tuesday” at Galleri Den Blå Fisk in Maribo.
When FemernReport comes by, the café area in the gallery is jam-packed, and the sound level is many decibels higher than in a kindergarten room on a rainy Monday morning. German, Spanish, Polish and English are spoken in a flurry of words, and there is a lot of traffic to and from the cake table.
Sandra Frang Mostad is herself an immigrant from Norway. Together with her sister and her mother, she runs Galleri Den Blå Fisk in Maribo. She once worked as a substitute at Lolland International School in Maribo. She contacted some of the parents who dropped off and picked up children at school.
Lack of a place
– There was a lack of a place where you could meet and speak your own language and perhaps get a little help with Danish. Many have come here with their spouse and have not got a job themselves, so they have the morning off when the children are at school. Here you can let off some steam for a few hours, says Sandra Frang Mostad.
Same situation as yourself
Iris Lui works for the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is currently stationed in Denmark. She mostly works from home, and the time difference to Canada means that she can also come to “Blue Tuesday” at Den Blå Fisk. She is there with her spouse, John Tønnersen, who is originally from Gränge on eastern Lolland:
– It’s great to be able to get out and meet someone who is in the same situation as you. It can be a bit difficult to get to know people when you move around a lot, says Iris Lui.
However, John Tønnersen has not found a job at Lolland-Falster yet – despite a background as a school teacher:
– It’s only industrial work and cleaning jobs. The lack of labor is obviously not that great either, ha reflects.
Need even more foreigners
In both Lolland and Guldborgsund municipalities, the increase in employees comes solely from the fact that more foreign employees have found jobs in the area.
– We must work purposefully to get even more foreigners here to work. The municipalities of Lolland-Falster can, among other things, help the companies by providing a simple process when an employee has got a job in the area and by ensuring a good reception for the whole family.
Doubling in ten years
The number of international employees throughout Denmark has doubled over the past ten years from 140,000 in 2012 to 290,000 in 2022. The increase has continued into 2023, when several months ago we reached 300,000 international employees.
