Get a job: Denmark tells migrants to work for welfare benefits

• Migrants will be required to get jobs in order to receive benefits in Denmark.
• New rules will help migrants to assimilate into Danish society.
• Six out of ten ‘non-western’ migrant women in Denmark are not employed.

Migrants in Denmark will be required to work at least 37 hours a week in order to qualify for government-issued welfare benefits.

The new restrictions will be imposed on those who have been receiving welfare benefits from the Danish government for three to four years, but who haven’t achieved a certain level of proficiency in Danish.

“For too many years we have done a disservice to a lot of people by not demanding anything of them,” said the PM, who added that the rules were particularly aimed at migrant women living on the benefits, who weren’t working and were from ‘non-western’ backgrounds.

The Danish government says six out of 10 migrant women from Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East are not employed.

“It is basically a problem when we have such a strong economy, where the business community demands labor, that we then have a large group, primarily women with non-Western backgrounds, who are not part of the labor market,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark has one of the toughest stances on immigration within the European Union (EU).

In June, it passed a law by a 70-24 vote, allowing it to deport asylum seekers and process applications while they are outside of the country.