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The purpose in this paper is to survey the course of immigration into Denmark and research and studies related to the problems encountered in this area. The first part of the paper describes the actual flows of migrants in the most recent decades. The directly job-related part of migration can not be identified precisely. A survey of research results indicate net migration flows towards other OECD countries is sensitive to cyclical indicators and thus mainly labour market related. The paper goes on to survey immigration policy and available evidence regarding the labour market integration of both 1. and 2. generation immigrants. Immigrants and refugees are recorded on average with much higher unemployment and much lower labour market participation than Danish citizens. The status in the late 1990s points to the pressing need for policy initiatives to improve this situation. Finally, the paper summarizes available results regarding the impact on public finances from immigration.

We investigate trends in income inequality for five special groups (immigrants from Turkey in Denmark and Germany, natives in the two countries and in Turkey). The migration of people with similar characteristics and motivations to countries with structural differences is similar to a natural experiment. We ask whether immigrant inequality adapts over time to inequality among natives. We find, first, that immigrants are concentrated in the lower deciles of the overall income distribution. Secondly, considering native and immigrant distributions separately, in every decile an average native is significantly richer than an average immigrant. Thirdly, inequality decompositions show that during the great recession, in Denmark inequality grew faster among immigrants than among natives. In Germany, inequality rose somewhat among natives, while it remained the same among immigrants. Therefore, we do not observe a convergence in inequality. In both countries, in 2007-2013, rising inequality among natives is the most important factor behind the rise in overall inequality. For the longer period from the 1980s to 2013 we find no convergence in inequality. Finally, compared to Turks in Turkey, immigrants in both countries have higher incomes, distributed much more equally.

AbstractWe use data on Turkish immigrants in two European welfare states, Denmark and Germany, and data on Turks at home. Unlike in most studies of immigrant poverty, we thus control for the differences in immigrant composition. Denmark and Germany have different welfare state types, labour market structure and institutions. We find that in both countries Turkish immigrants have much higher poverty rates than natives. We perform Fairlie decompositions to find that in Denmark, compared to Germany, a larger part of the native‐immigrant poverty difference is explained by market valuation of characteristics and by unobservables. Finally, we decompose poverty by subgroups and find that certain immigrant subgroups (such as families with children and the elderly) are especially vulnerable in both countries and that not much has changed in the two countries between 2008 and 2013 in terms of the vulnerability of these sub‐groups to poverty risk.

The focus of this paper is on poverty among immigrants and refugees aged 60 years and older coming to Denmark from countries outside of the OECD, with an emphasis on immigrants who came as guest workers before 1974, as refugees and as family members and marriage partners (tied movers) of the individuals coming as guest workers and as refugees. A large proportion of people in this group were fairly young at the time of their arrival in Denmark. Guest workers who came before 1974 and refugees and tied movers who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s are now either close to or above the age of 60, with conditional eligibility to a labour market-related early retirement programme or to the State pension. Poverty rates by national background are described using alternative household concepts. A number of background factors with relevance for poverty are summarised. We focus on age, gender, marital status, occupational status at age 55, and duration of residence, and find major differences between migrant groups and between immigrants and natives regarding how income is dependent at different ages on market income, pensions and benefits. We also present a number of regressions aiming at explaining differences in the risk of poverty risk in terms of these background factors.

In most OECD member countries labour force attachment, has increased in recent years not only in the age groups 60-64 years but also among people 65 years and older. Focus in this paper is on the trend in older workers' labour force participation in Denmark, Germany and Sweden since 2004. Main emphasis is given to people aged 65-69 years eligible for social security retirement programs from age 65. The gender aspect is included to accommodate different trends for women and men. To explain country differences in trends, the importance of changes in retirement policies of relevance for this age group and cohort relevant changes in education and health is examined and discussed. Further, country differences in the impact from education and health is examined. Results show that the largest increase in labour force participation among people aged 65-69 years has taken place in Sweden following by Germany, while the increase in Denmark is rather small. While the increase in Germany mainly seems to be a result of policy reforms, the increase in Sweden appear to be a result of a combination of policy changes and an increasing educational level. Financial incentives seem most important in Germany and only of minor importance in Denmark, where policy changes directed towards individuals above the age of 65 appear to have been too small so far to affect retirement behaviour significantly. ; In den meisten OECD-Mitgliedsländern ist in den letzten Jahren nicht nur die Beschäftigung in der Altersgruppe der 60-64-jährigen, sondern auch bei Personen ab 65 Jahren gestiegen. Dieser Artikel analysiert die Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung Älterer in Dänemark, Deutschland und Schweden seit 2004. Das Hauptaugenmerkt liegt dabei auf Menschen in der Altersgruppe der 65 bis 69-jährigen. Geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede werden berücksichtigt, um unterschiedliche Entwicklungen für Frauen und Männer erfassen zu können. Um länderspezifische Unterschiede erklären zu können, werden wichtige Veränderungen in den Rentenprogrammen, die für diese Altersgruppe relevant sind, sowie Änderungen im Bildungsniveau und Gesundheitszustand dieser Alterskohorte untersucht und diskutiert. Weiterhin werden länderspezifische Unterschiede beim Einfluss von Bildung und Gesundheit untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die größte Steigerung der Arbeitsmarktteilnahme unter den 65 bis 69-jährigen in Schweden stattgefunden hat, gefolgt von Deutschland, während die Steigerung in Dänemark eher gering ausfällt. Während der Anstieg in Deutschland vor allem ein Ergebnis politischer Reformen zu sein scheint, ist der Anstieg in Schweden auf eine Kombination aus politischen Reformen und einem gestiegenen Bildungsniveau zurückzuführen. Finanzielle Anreize scheinen in Deutschland den größten Einfluss gehabt zu haben. Demgegenüber waren die Rentenänderungen für über 65-jährige in Dänemark zu gering, um deren Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung signifikant zu beeinflussen.

ABSTRACTA major portion of migration flows are temporary, ending with return migration to the home country or migration to a third country. However, the propensity to return differs according to migrants' countries of origin. This paper presents a discussion of the theoretical approaches to return migration and a brief survey of the actual flows in Denmark. We then present a panel data set of immigrants to Denmark covering the years 1986 ‐ 1995 and run a number of logit models where return migration is related to individual background factors. Our research shows significant differences in decisions of return depending on country of origin, age at entry, education, and family ties. One of the most important determinants is found to be a migrant's success, or lack thereof, regarding labour market integration. This research suggests that policy instruments such as education, training, and temporary wage subsidies could play an important role in controlling the interaction between immigration and labour market forces.