More bad news for immigrants seeking work in Norway

Nina Berglund:

There's been a lot written about joblessness and underemployment among immigrants in Norway lately, despite the country's booming economy and a demand for workers. A new study suggests the situation likely won't be improving.

The study was conducted by research firm MMI for the state labour department, and reported Monday by newspaper Dagens Næringsliv. It showed that a stunning 94 percent of Norwegian companies questioned haven't put forth a single measure aimed at recruiting workers who have emigrated to Norway or who aren't ethnic Norwegians.

Only 20 percent of company managers said they have a goal of diversifying the workplace by employing more immigrants or people of non-Norwegian background.

Nor were the managers interested in recruiting non-Norwegian workers. Fully 70 percent said they weren't interested in receiving any counselling on how they might attract immigrant workers.

The study indicated that larger companies seemed more willing to employ more immigrants than smaller companies were.

A director at the Norwegian employers' association NHO said she wasn't surprised by the study's results. Sigrun Vågeng told Dagens Næringsliv that the most important thing for company management is to recruit the most qualified person, regardless of their background.

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