Scandinavia's Job Market

Let me first, for the layman reader, separate the concept of Job Market from Labor Market.
The Job Market can be thought of as a street market, where the supplier, in this case the employer, advertises a product, the job to a customer, the potential employee.
The Labor Market can be thought of as the reverse. Each job seeker is selling him or herself to employers.
The products and services in each market can be lumped together to give a picture of the capabilities and demands of an economy. Each Job Market is competing against other Job Markets to attract the most talented employees to its associated Labor Market. Each Labor Market is competing against other Labor Markets to attract jobs to its associated Job Market.

If you have noticed how the two are interdependent, then you should also see how immigration policy sets up a gate and control for employers and employees entering the market from outside. Denmark's job market is suffering a bit of internal strife at the moment because of actors that wish to restrict immigration and a mismatch between what the Job Market demands and what the Labor Market is offering. Dansk Folke Parti, or the Danish Peoples' Party, is the nationalist party represented in the Danish parliament at the moment. The party has set immigration reform, closing the borders to far more immigrants than before, as a priority for the ruling administration. However, such policy will hamper the Labor Markets ability to fulfill the Job Markets demand and put over qualified or misqualified people in positions that are better suited for people with either on the job training or trade educations.

Currently, the service economy in Denmark is supplied by a highly educated, mostly domestically trained, labor market. 27% have a university or equivalent education. But the Job Market demands employees with basic schooling to fulfill jobs such as garbage man, retirement orderly or janitor. Sourcing people to fill these jobs at the local Labor Market is difficult because few people with a full education are willing to work, what most feel, in a position beneath them. While people strive to the top of commerce and industry, there are too few to support the service economy's activities with basic services. Putting down the gate for immigration will prevent the Labor Market fulling market demands. Yet this also may reveal some of the short comings of the current education policy. Restricting supply will force both markets to adapt to do more with less and perhaps be in a better position for future changes in the global economy.

Sweden on the other hand has an open education policy that ensures the Swedish Job Market's supply of basic service jobs will always be in demand and the Labor Market's supply of new immigrants will be snapped up by the Job Market as second and third generation immigrant families advance themselves and require services. It is a rapid growth, which looks a bit like a bubble...

An open letter to The Honorable Mark Kirk

 Please note, I left my dad's and own name out of this published version. I am to you, Servus.

To The Honorable Mark Kirk, Junior Senator for Illinois,

I write to you regarding the recent committee hearing’s topic of discussion, held on the 8th of March, 2012, concerning the United States’ workforce competitiveness’ relation to the United States’ competitiveness in education against other nations’.

Before I continue, allow me to introduce myself. My name is ---. I am American born and grew up in the Chicago area. My parents are Danish and moved to Chicago when my dad, ---, was invited to work at Argonne National Laboratory. I have since become an expatriate American and currently live in the North Atlantic region. I intend to return to Chicago once I have completed my education in Denmark. One of my goals in Chicago is to influence the paradigms of education in Illinois.

I would like to know, to what extent do you intend for the United States to develop its own paradigm and policy in education reform and to what extent do you intend to import ideas and policy from our competitors? To what extent will adult education be influenced and can you quantify the effect the reforms will have on the labor and job markets? What conclusions have you reached as a result of the hearing?

I would also like to take the opportunity to tell you about the state of education in Denmark and my experiences. Colleges in the United States hold Gymnasium degrees in high regard. I myself took a HF degree, which is the equivalent of a GED and was informed by several colleges and universities in the Midwest I could be awarded enough credits to graduate with an bachelor's degree in one or two years. But there is a down side to Denmark’s high level of education in the labor market. Many highly educated graduates are now having difficulty finding a job that fits their level of education. While there may be plenty of job training positions in offices granting degrees in Public Administration, Finances or Business Administration, competition among new gymnasium graduates is high. Even job training programs, lasting two to four years, for trades such as plumbing, auto repair or masonry work, is in short supply compared to the number of candidates who apply for these positions. Oddly enough, the reverse is true for academic, highly technical or design sectors, as many of these career paths are seen as unattainable due to difficulty, too menial despite or boring despite the high level of technical skill required, or uninteresting.

While I am tempted to suggest Illinois would benefit from importing models from Denmark, I cannot without reservation do so. The current crisis and occupy protests have highlighted the higher than expected unemployment rate among new graduates. To improve education across the board as a solution to America’s job market woes would ignore the factors which is reflected by the high number of unemployed graduates. It is curious as to what these factors are.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter to you. I look forward to your reply and value any correspondence you offer on the subject.

Best Regards, Peter Smedskjaer.