Foreign labor is important for growth
Foreign nationals made up over 13% of wage earner employment in the Triangle Region in the 4th quarter of 2025 – which corresponds to nearly 25,000 full-time employed. This is a lower share than in the Capital Region, but higher than in the metropolitan areas around Aarhus, Odense, and Aalborg. Foreign labor thus has great significance for the Triangle Region.
Foreign labor constitutes a steadily increasing share of wage earner employment in Denmark. The share has increased the most in the Capital Region (from 11% to 18%), followed by the Triangle Region (from 8% to 13%). In the other metropolitan areas, the share has only increased by about 4 percentage points. Thus, foreign labor is becoming increasingly important and contributes significantly to employment and growth. In the last 10 years, foreign nationals have accounted for over half of the employment growth in the Triangle Region.
It is both EU/EEA citizens and citizens from countries outside the EU who are more numerous in the Capital Region and in the Triangle Region than in the Odense, Aarhus, and Aalborg areas.
Among EU/EEA citizens, there are particularly many nationals from Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Germany working in the Triangle Region. Employment for Ukrainians has increased sharply in connection with more Ukrainians coming to the area after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. German nationals working in the Triangle Region will partly be cross-border commuters, and the Triangle Region's location close to the German border thus contributes to the high share of EU/EEA citizens among the employed.
Looking specifically at the industry sector, many of the same countries the foreign labor comes from are seen across all occupations. Polish nationals are even more important in the industry sector, where they make up as much as 24% of the foreign labor. Additionally, nationals from English-speaking countries are more important in the industry than in occupations generally, including the United Kingdom and the USA.
About foreign labor
Foreign labor is here defined as foreign nationals employed in Denmark. It is thus an indicator of the extent to which companies use foreign labor, which will largely depend on how easy it is for companies to access foreign labor. The figures are based on jobindsats.dk’s wage earner statistics and include all wage earners who do not have Danish citizenship, including cross-border commuters who live in another country and work in Denmark. Foreign labor is here measured in full-time equivalents, i.e., number of full-time employed, and is thus adjusted for any differences in working hours between Danish and foreign labor.