Immigration of Qualified Labor and the Effect of Changes in Danish Migration Policy in 2002: (Study Paper No. 28)

Denmark's migration policy was altered around 2002. The policy change was not targeted towards skilled and unskilled immigrants, but shortly after the law was enacted, a boom in the Danish economy caused business firms to complain about the shortage of labor - in particular, skilled labor. One of the central questions therefore is: given that the flow of immigrants had fallen after 2002 and the labor market was booming, could some of the shortage of labor have been avoided by not implementing the law? This report investigates the impact of Denmark's migration policy change on skilled migration.