Denmark profits from Eastern European worker contributions

BRUSSELS - Workers from Eastern Europe contributed on average €2,142 per person to the Danish Treasury in 2012/2013, according to a new study from the Confederation of Danish Employers.

While the foreign workers appear to provide good business for the Danish state, the Danes themselves received on average €800 more from the public purse than they contributed.

The figures, published on Wednesday (9 April), overturn a general perception that eastern European workers place a burden on Danish public coffers.

The calculations provide a snapshot of the EU workers' contribution to government revenues, for example via income tax and VAT. They also include any pay-outs from public funds, such as income transfers, child benefits and hospital expenses.

On the revenue side, Danes paid on average €4,286 more per year in income taxes than eastern Europeans. But the Danes were also on average better paid than their eastern colleagues.

Overall, the calculations show an average yearly income of €23,975 for Danes while eastern Europeans working in the country receive €18,886.

Early retirement, old age pensions, civil service pensions and housing benefits make Danish workers more costly to the public purse than eastern European workers.

A Danish worker's pension cost €4,553 on average in 2012/2013 compared to just €174 for a foreign worker.

Figures from the study lend weight to recent public criticism that the child benefit scheme is too generous to workers from abroad.

While Danish workers received €388 on average from the scheme in 2012/2013, eastern European workers took home €469 on average for their children.

However, the eastern Europeans are mainly represented in the 18 to 40-year-old age group, when most people have their children, while the Danish working population is more spread across the age groups.

The study shows that the foreign workers also cost more in unemployment benefits and social assistance than Danes.

An eastern European worker cost the Danish state an average of €777 in unemployment benefits in 2012/2013. The equivalent for a Danish worker was €496.

The study covered workers from 10 EU countries; Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania. They made up 1.5 percent of full-time employment in 2012 in Denmark.

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