Webinar: Why should you (not) hire refugees and immigrants?

This is a recording of the webinar: Why should you (not) hire refugees and immigrants? on February 15 2024. The webinar was organized by Nordregio and Nordic Welfare Centre.

At this seminar, the researchers from Nordregio presented the findings of a new report on Employers’ perspectives and experiences from hiring immigrants across the Nordic countries.

The background is the paradox, that the Nordic countries are facing labour shortages across various sectors, and yet many refugees and immigrants have difficulties in establishing themselves on the labour market.

Among the questions explored:
• What are the barriers and benefits of hiring immigrants for employers?
• Are poor language skills always a barrier?
• How important are national wage subsidies and support for employers in the Nordic countries?
• What can we learn from each other in the Nordic countries to achieve better labour market integration of refugees and low-educated immigrants?

PROGRAMME
00:00 Welcoming words
Moderator Kaisa Kepsu, Senior Adviser, Integration Norden, Nordic Welfare Centre

00:10 Presentation of the report: Employers’ perspectives on hiring immigrants – Experiences from the Nordic countries
• Rebecca Cavicchia, Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio
• Anna Berlina, Research Consultant, Nordregio

00:30 Employers’ perspectives – Nordic cases
• Ann-Mari Eklund, HR Director, Snellman Meat Processing, Jakobstad, Finland
• Maria Eliadis, Alla behövs på Gotland (Everyone is needed at Gotland) and Magnus Larsson, CEO, McDonald's Visby, Sweden
• Mark Ahlenius, Founder and Deputy Director, Jobbentrén (diversity recruitment), Sweden

01:00 Overcoming the barriers: short comments and panel discussion
• Karin Heri, Country Director, Tent Partnership for Refugees, Sweden
• Ahmed Abdirahman, founder of Järvaveckan and member of the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum, Sweden
• Anna Engedal Jacobsen, senior consultant, Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI)

FURTHER READING:
www.integrationnorden.org – a Nordic knowledge and cooperation platform integration of refugees and immigrants

The report that was the backdrop for the webinar:
https://nordicwelfare.org/integration...

The Nordic Welfare Centre is an institution in the Nordic Council of Ministers’ social and health sector. Our mission is to contribute to the development of welfare initiatives in the Nordic region.
https://nordicwelfare.org/en