This chapter examines the labour market dynamics within the Greater Copenhagen Region (GCR), a transnational area spanning eastern Denmark and southern Sweden. It begins by exploring labour market trends, focusing on disparities between the GCR’s constituent parts, including differences in employment rates, local job creation, and labour demand. The chapter then addresses the GCR’s economic integration and cross-border employment patterns, analysing trends over time, the sectoral distribution of cross-border workers and their socio-economic profiles. Finally, it assesses the access of third-country nationals (TCNs) to employment opportunities within this integrated market, particularly in light of persistently low employment rates for this group on the Swedish side of the region.
Mobility and Integrated Labour Markets for Third‑country Nationals in Greater Copenhagen
Abstract
Improved integration of cross-border labour markets offers economic and social benefits for cross-border regions. By creating larger labour markets, workers gain access to a broader range of employment opportunities, facilitating better matches between skills and job requirements. This not only enhances worker productivity and wages but also fosters career development and economic mobility. For businesses, a wider pool of talent supports innovation and competitiveness. In the Greater Copenhagen Region (GCR), where the Swedish side faces relatively high unemployment and the Danish side grapples with labour shortages, better cross-border labour market integration can boost prosperity on both sides of the border.
The GCR encompasses eastern Denmark and southern Sweden, centred around the Oresund Strait. It includes Region Zealand, the Capital Region in Denmark, and Region Scania and Region Halland in Sweden. Among its population of 4.5 million, 60% live on the Danish side. The region's labour market is divided into three major commuting zones, or Functional Urban Areas (FUAs): FUA Copenhagen in Denmark, a metropolitan region, and the smaller FUAs of Malmö and Helsingborg, as well as rural areas in Sweden. These zones are interconnected by the Oresund Bridge, linking Copenhagen and Malmö in the south, and by ferries between Helsingør and Helsingborg in the north.
The positive labour market statistics in the GCR mask significant differences across its various parts, particularly on the Swedish side. The employment rate among the GCR’s working-age population was 78% in 2023, above the OECD average of 70%. However, the Swedish side of the GCR reveals substantial internal disparities. The employment rate gap between the FUA Malmö (72%) in Scania and Region Halland (85%) reached 13 percentage points in 2022. Unemployment rates in the Danish Capital Region (2.5%) and Region Zealand (2.3%) are very low, while Scania (6.6%) and its FUA Malmö (6.9%) report considerably higher unemployment rates.
Recent job creation and current job vacancy rates indicate a significantly higher demand for workers on the Danish side of the GCR, leading Danish employers to tap into the Swedish labour force. Total employment in the GCR reached 2.3 million in 2023. Of the 321 000 net new jobs created since 2013, 186 000 were in Denmark’s Capital Region, compared to 80 000 in Sweden’s Region Scania, 40 000 in Zealand, and 16 000 in Halland. In the first quarter of 2024, the job vacancy rate (defined as the percentage of vacant positions relative to the total of both filled and vacant posts) in Denmark’s Capital Region (2.8%) and Zealand (2.5%) continued to be significantly higher than in South Sweden (0.8%). Cross-border work patterns in specific sectors, like business support services and wholesale and retail, closely align with regional growth on the Danish side. This suggests that hiring workers from across the border supports business growth in the GCR.
Cross-border work in the GCR reached a record high of 20 500 in 2023, driven by residents in Sweden finding employment on the Danish side of GCR. In 1999, the year before the Oresund bridge's opening, only 2 800 individuals resided in either Denmark or Sweden and worked in the other country. By 2023, this number had risen to 20 500. Of these cross-border workers, 19 000 resided in Sweden and worked in Denmark, while 1 500 lived in Denmark and worked in Sweden. Among Swedish cross-border workers, 85% live in the FUAs of Malmö or Helsingborg, with nine out of ten working in Denmark’s Capital Region.
Not all population segments have benefited equally from the GCR’s labour market integration. High-income earners are more likely to work cross-border, with over 63% earning above DKK 33 333 (EUR 4 466) monthly, compared to an average monthly salary of SEK 42 000 (EUR 3 558) in Scania in 2023. There is also a gender imbalance, with men comprising 63% of cross-border workers in late 2023.
Third-country nationals (TCNs) face challenges integrating into the Swedish GCR labour market and are underrepresented among cross-border workers. Less educated (-13pp) and medium educated (-10pp) TCNs in South Sweden show a significant employment gap compared to those in Denmark’s Capital Region, the main hub for cross-border work. Despite making up about 4% of the population on the Swedish side, they account for only 1% of cross-border workers.
Integrating cross-border labour markets is a policy objective that can yield significant economic benefits in cross-border regions. A larger labour market provides the workforce with enhanced employment opportunities, and more efficient allocation of labour and skills through improved matching can boost worker productivity and wages. For companies, greater access to talent and expanded market opportunities enhances competitiveness relative to other regions.
Compared to other major cross-border labour markets in the European Union, cross-border work in the Greater Copenhagen Region remains moderate. Despite the relatively more favourable labour market conditions on the Danish side of the Greater Copenhagen Region (GCR), only around 19 000 people lived on the Swedish side and worked in the Danish Capital Region or Region Zealand in 2023. Around 1 500 cross-border workers lived on the Danish side of the GCR and worked in Sweden. While these numbers place the GCR among the European Union’s (EU) major cross-border labour markets, cross-border work remains moderate in comparison to the EU’s largest cross-border labour markets. For instance, 135 000 workers lived in the French Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and worked in Switzerland in 2022. Similarly, 113 000 workers lived in the French Grand Est region and worked in Luxembourg in the same year (European Commission: Directorate-General for Employment, 2024[1]).
This chapter examines the GCR’s labour market and cross-border work patterns between its Danish and Swedish sides. It begins with an overview of the GCR's geography, followed by an analysis of its labour market dynamics. The chapter then explores cross-border work patterns and discusses the potential for increasing cross-border work among population groups that face employment challenges on the Swedish side, particularly third-country nationals (TCNs).
The GCR spans the eastern part of Denmark and the southern part of Sweden, centred around the Oresund Strait. It includes Region Zealand and the Capital Region on the Danish side, as well as Region Scania and Region Halland on the Swedish side. The primary infrastructure connecting commuters between Denmark and Sweden is the Oresund Bridge, linking Copenhagen and Malmö in the south, along with ferries operating between Helsingør and Helsingborg in the north. Figure 2.1 illustrates its geography.
4.5 million people call the GCR their home, with three in five residing on the Danish side of the Oresund Strait. In 2023, 1.9 million people lived in the Capital Region of Denmark that contains Denmark’s capital, the city of Copenhagen; 850 000 people lived in the Danish region of Zealand; 1.4 million in the Swedish region of Scania and 340 000 people in the Swedish region of Halland.1
The GCR’s labour market consists of three functional urban areas or commuting zones. A Functional Urban Area (FUA) is a geographical unit that reflects the economic and social interactions between an urban core and its surrounding areas and is defined based on commuting patterns towards the core (Dijkstra, Poelman and Veneri, 2019[2]). The GCR has three FUAs: On the Danish side, the FUA Copenhagen corresponds to the Capital Region and six adjacent municipalities in Region Zealand. On the Swedish side, the FUA Malmö, which includes the city of Malmö, the city of Lund and their surrounding municipalities, and the FUA Helsingborg, with the city of Helsingborg as its urban core, constitute the two main labour markets. Figure 2.1 illustrates these two FUAs.
The three labour markets of Malmö, Helsingborg and Copenhagen interact with each other through cross-border employment. With a combined population of close to one million, more than half of the population on the Swedish side of the GCR live in the FUA Malmö or the FUA Helsingborg and thus in proximity to the Danish Capital Region. Among Swedish cross-border workers, 91% worked in Denmark’s Capital Region. Therefore, from a labour market perspective, the Greater Copenhagen Region can be understood as an effort to integrate these three labour markets while expanding their reach to include Halland and the wider Scania region.
The geography of the Greater Copenhagen Region (light blue), including the Functional Urban Areas of Helsingborg and Malmö (purple)
Note: OECD illustration.
The employment and unemployment rates in the GCR have remained relatively stable over the past decades. In 2023, the employment rate among 16- to 64-year-olds in the GCR was 77.9%, compared to 76.6% in Denmark and 77.4% in Sweden for those aged 15 to 64 (Figure 2.2, Panel A). Employment in the GCR has risen by 4.5 percentage points since 2005, placing it well above the OECD (70.0%) and EU-27 (70.4%) averages. The unemployment rate in the same age group was 6.5% in 2023, which is higher than the OECD average of 4.8% and slightly above the EU-27 average of 6.0%. This rate falls between the national figures for Denmark (5.1%) and Sweden (7.7%) (Panel B). Unlike the EU-27, where unemployment peaked in 2013 before sharply declining, the GCR’s unemployment rate has remained steady since 2010.
Employment rate (Panel A) and unemployment rate (Panel B) in the Greater Copenhagen Region in international comparison, 2005 to 2023
Note: Statistics shown for Denmark, Sweden, EU-27 and the OECD are based on Labour Force Survey data for the age group 15 to 64. Statistics shown for the Greater Copenhagen Region are based on Labour Force Survey data for the age group 16 to 64.
Source: Oresund Statbank table OEAKU21D, Oresund Statbank table OEAKU22D and OECD Employment database.
On the Danish side, the geography of the Capital Region and Region Zealand aligns with the OECD's TL-2 and the European Union's NUTS-2 regions. This alignment allows for the calculation of detailed labour market statistics, including those for specific sub-groups, based on Labour Force Surveys. In contrast, on the Swedish side, the regions of Scania and Halland correspond to smaller TL-3/NUTS-3 regions. As a result, detailed labour market statistics, especially those disaggregated by sub-groups such as education level or country of origin, are seldom available in public databases due to concerns about statistical reliability from small sample sizes in survey data.
This report addresses the issue using different approaches. First, administrative data can be utilised to produce labour market statistics that compare different regions within the Greater Copenhagen Region. For recent years, these data are available at the municipal level for both Denmark and Sweden through their respective national statistical offices. The data can be aggregated into broader geographic areas where appropriate. ARDECO, the Annual Regional Database of the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, is used as a complementary data source for TL-3/NUTS-3 level employment data. For international labour market comparisons that rely on survey data, basic employment statistics are extracted from the Oresund database, a statistical database that specifically publishes information on the Greater Copenhagen Region. For survey-based labour market statistics that are not available in the Oresund database or have high margins of errors due the limited sample size, information from the larger TL-2/NUTS-2 region of South Sweden is used as a proxy for the Scania region in Sweden. Notably, South Sweden includes the smaller Blekinge region, which is not technically part of the Greater Copenhagen Region. It does not include Halland.
Statistics related to the Functional Urban Areas of Malmö and Helsingborg
The OECD's Functional Urban Area (FUA) is a geographical unit that reflects the economic and social interactions between an urban core and its surrounding areas, based on factors such as commuting patterns and population density (Dijkstra, Poelman and Veneri, 2019[2]). It includes the urban core, where most of the population and jobs are concentrated, and the surrounding commuting zone that interacts with the core.
On the Swedish side of Greater Copenhagen, there are two major FUAs: FUA Malmö and FUA Helsingborg. FUA Malmö consists of the municipalities of Burlöv, Kävlinge, Lomma, Lund, Malmö, Skurup, Staffanstorp, Svedala, Trelleborg, and Vellinge. Thus, this FUA includes some less densely populated municipalities surrounding the urban core of Malmö, as well as the city of Lund. FUA Helsingborg consists of the urban municipality of Helsingborg, which serves as the FUA’s urban core, along with the surrounding municipalities of Bjuv, Höganäs, Ängelholm, and Åstorp. Like labour market statistics pertaining to Scania and Halland, municipality-level administrative data can be aggregated to calculate labour market statistics at the FUA level.
Source: Dijkstra, Poelman and Veneri (2019[2]), The EU-OECD definition of a functional urban area, OECD Regional Development Working Papers, No. 2019/1, https://doi.org/10.1787/d58cb34d-en
The positive headline labour market statistics in the GCR mask significant differences across its various parts, particularly on the Swedish side. Figure 2.3, Panel A, illustrates the employment rate among 20- to 64-year-olds in the GCR, its four regions (Scania, Halland, the Capital Region, and Zealand), the FUAs of Malmö and Helsingborg within Scania, as well as Denmark and Sweden as a whole in 2022. While the employment rates in the Capital Region (79.8%) and Region Zealand (79.2%) are in line with the GCR average (79.7%) and Denmark overall (80.1%), the Swedish side of the GCR reveals more substantial internal disparities. Notably, the employment rate gap between FUA Malmö (71.9%) in Scania and Halland (84.8%) reached 12.9 percentage points in 2022. This highlights that, while there is no major difference in employment rates between the Danish and Swedish sides of the GCR, some areas in Sweden are significantly lagging, while others perform relatively well. Panel B of Figure 2.3 shifts focus to unemployment rates, underscoring even more pronounced regional differences. While the GCR's unemployment rate (3.8%) is on par with Denmark’s (4.1%), the regional average obscures significant contrasts between the Danish and Swedish sides. The Capital Region (2.5%) and Zealand (2.3%) are nearing full employment, whereas unemployment in Halland (3.8%) matches the unemployment rate of the Greater Copenhagen Region as a whole. Scania (6.6%) reports considerably higher unemployment rates. Within Scania, FUA Malmö (6.9%) once again stands out with the highest unemployment rate, further emphasising the regional imbalances.
Employment rate (Panel A) and unemployment rate (Panel B) in the Greater Copenhagen Region, national comparison
Note: OECD calculations. All regional statistics based on administrative data sources at municipal level that were aggregated into the respective regions, see Box 2.1 for details. The age group is 20 to 64.
Source: Statistics Denmark table LIGEAB2 and Statistics Sweden Labour market status database.
Job creation in the GCR over the past decade was predominantly concentrated in Denmark’s Capital Region. Total employment in the GCR reached 2.3 million in 2023, marking a substantial rise from 2.0 million in 2013. Of the 321 000 net new jobs created, 186 000 were in Denmark’s Capital Region, compared to 80 000 in Sweden’s Scania region, 40 000 in Zealand, and 16 000 in Halland. This means that 58% of the net employment growth occurred in the Capital Region, which now accounts for more than half of all employment in the GCR, solidifying its position as the economic core of the Copenhagen metropolitan region. Over the same period, population growth was much more balanced across the GCR, with Denmark’s Capital Region growing by 142 000 (+8%), Zealand by 33 000 (+4%), Scania by 140 000 (+11%) and Halland by 34 000 (+12%).2
Sectoral growth patterns varied across the GCR. Between 2013 and 2023, the GCR’s largest labour market, Denmark’s Capital Region, experienced most of its net employment growth within “Professional, scientific and technical activities and administrative and support service activities” (+48 500 jobs), followed by “Wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation and food service activities” (+36 300), and “Public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities” (+36 000, Figure 2.4). Zealand exhibited a similar pattern of net employment growth, although on a much smaller scale. In contrast, the Swedish region of Scania, which includes the FUAs of Malmö and Helsingborg, saw net employment growth primarily driven by “Public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities” (+43 900). The only other sector in Scania to show a net growth of more than 10 000 employees was “Construction” (+11 100). Likewise, in Halland, net employment growth was largely concentrated in “Public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities” (+10 100), with no other sectors showing notable employment gains.
Difference in total employment by sector of economic activity between 2013 and 2023
Note: The sectors of economic activity are categorised according to Eurostat’s NACE Rev. 2 grouping. Employment refers to all employment.
Source: Ardeco database, SNETZ, Employment by industry (10 NACE sectors).
The supply of workers in Denmark’s Capital Region is no longer sufficient to meet the high local demand for labour, underscoring the need for better cross-border labour market integration to enable Danish employers to recruit more workers from the Swedish side. The high demand is reflected in the job vacancy rate, which measures the percentage of unfilled positions relative to the total number of filled and vacant posts. The job vacancy rate has risen substantially and is now much higher on the Danish side of the GCR than on the Swedish side. Figure 2.5 highlights the job vacancy rates across different parts of the GCR, using South Sweden as a proxy for the Swedish side (see Box 2.1). In Denmark’s Capital Region, the vacancy rate increased from 2.0% in 2015 to 4.0% in 2022, before declining to 2.8% in the first quarter of 2024, positioning it slightly above the rates in Zealand (2.5%) and Denmark as a whole (2.5%). In contrast, South Sweden’s vacancy rate has remained relatively stable at 0.8% in both 2015 and the first quarter of 2024, aside from a brief spike to 1.6% in 2022, reflecting a pattern consistent with the rest of Sweden. This indicates that employers on the Danish side of the GCR leave a substantially larger share of positions unfilled compared to their Swedish counterparts.
Job vacancy rate in the Greater Copenhagen Region in national comparison, 2015 to 2024
Note: Job Vacancy Survey data. Annual data for Sweden calculated as the quarterly average.
Source: Statistics Denmark table LS02 and Statistics Sweden Recruitment and Vacancy Rate database.
Cross-border work in the Greater Copenhagen Region has increased significantly since the Oresund Bridge was opened. In 1999, the year prior to the bridge's opening, approximately 2 800 individuals worked in either Denmark or Sweden while residing in the other country. By 2001, one year after the bridge became operational, this number had risen to 4 300.3 Figure 2.6 illustrates that the number of cross-border workers continued to grow, reaching 18 600 by 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic began deterring the crossing of international borders. In 2020, cross-border work fell to 17 300, but it quickly rebounded, reaching an all-time high of 20 500 in 2023. Box 2.2 provides important explanations on the measurement of cross-border employment used in this report.
While the terms cross-border employment and cross-border commuting are often used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings. Cross-border employment refers to workers who reside on one side of a border and work on the other, regardless of whether they physically commute to their workplace within a given period. In contrast, cross-border commuting specifically refers to the act of physically crossing a national border for work.
The statistics in this report are derived from data provided by the Oresund Statbank, which tracks workers' places of residence and employment. Consequently, the data reflect cross-border employment rather than commuting, which might instead be measured by daily border crossings. Because not all cross-border workers commute daily, the number of cross-border workers at a given point in time generally exceeds the number of cross-border commuters. These figures tend to align more closely when annual statistics based on unique commuters are used.
Most cross-border workers reside in the FUAs of Malmö and Helsingborg in Sweden and work in Denmark’s Capital Region. Of the 20 500 cross-border workers in 2023, 19 000 lived in Sweden and worked in Denmark, while 1 500 lived in Denmark and worked in Sweden. Figure 2.6 shows that the recent increase in cross-border work has been entirely driven by additional cross-border work of Swedes in Denmark, with the reverse flow remaining constant. Among those residing in Sweden and working in Denmark, over 74% lived in the FUA of Malmö in 2017, the most recent year for which detailed residence-based statistics are available.4 In that same year, 11% of cross-border workers resided in the FUA of Helsingborg. The primary destination for Swedish residents working across the border is Denmark’s Capital Region. Over the past few years, a steady 90% of the Greater Copenhagen Region’s cross-border workers who work in Denmark have been employed in the Capital Region.
Cross-border work in the Greater Copenhagen Region, 2019-2023
Note: For 2023, the total is calculated as the quarterly average. Once annual numbers are officially released, these may differ slightly from those shown in the figure.
Source: Oresund Statbank table OEPEN7AD and table OEPEN7KD.
Cross-border commuters in the OECD, as well as long-distance commuters more generally, share common objectives and characteristics. The decision to work, and often commute, within a country or across borders is influenced by the cost of living in the place of residence, earning potential at the destination, and the cost of commuting. Across the OECD, highly educated individuals with better income opportunities at their potential place of work compared to their place of residence are more likely to commute longer distances. White-collar workers, who are often able to earn more in cities than outside of cities in the same occupation are also more likely to commute longer distances for work. On average, men commute longer distances for work due to a combination of traditional gender roles in the household, occupational segregation, and a higher propensity of women to work part-time. Box 2.3 provides a partial review of the academic literature on determinants of long-distance commuting in Sweden and the OECD.
Choosing a commuting distance to work can be seen as maximising real income – defined as the nominal income earned at work minus the cost of living (including housing, amenities, and services) in the place of residence – while limiting the cost of commuting itself. The cost of commuting consists of the actual transportation expense, the time lost while commuting, which could otherwise be spent on family, care, social or productive activities, and the mental health toll associated with the commute (Gimenez-Nadal and Molina, 2019[3]). Cross-border commuters often face a significant administrative burden and investments into language skills in addition.
All else being equal, individuals with better income opportunities at their potential place of work compared to their place of residence are therefore more likely to commute longer distances. As spatial differences in income opportunities are more prevalent for highly educated workers, commuting longer distances is more common among highly educated individuals. For instance, high-paying, specialised jobs are often concentrated in cities (Glaeser and Resseger, 2010[4]). White-collar workers are also able to earn more in cities than outside of cities within the same occupation, often referred to as the “urban wage premium” (Gould, 2007[5]).
In addition, most empirical studies find that commuting is highly gendered. On average, men commute larger distances than women (Giménez-Nadal, Molina and Velilla, 2022[6]). The reasons for the gender split in commuting distance are related to a combination of traditional gender roles in the household, occupational segregation, and a higher propensity of women to work part-time.
Evidence from Sweden
Evidence of commuting in Sweden is in line with findings from other OECD countries. Cassel et al. (2013[7]) show that gender, the level of education, and the presence of children in the household are indeed the most important factors to explain individuals’ willingness to commute for more than 40 minutes in the Swedish county of Dalarna. Andersson, Lavesson and Niedomysl (2018[8]) show that long-distance commuting in Sweden, defined as commuting more than 100 kilometres, increased significantly between 1990 and 2009. Commuters are also more likely to be highly educated and work in higher-status jobs like professionals, technicians, and associate professionals.
Sources: Andersson, Lavesson and Niedomysl (2018[8]), Rural to urban long-distance commuting in Sweden: Trends, characteristics and pathways; Cassel et al. (2013[7]) Willingness to commute long distance among job seekers in Dalarna, Sweden; Gimenez-Nadal and Molina (2019[3]), Daily feelings of US workers and commuting time; Giménez-Nadal, Molina and Velilla (2022[6]), Trends in commuting time of European workers: A cross-country analysis; Glaeser and Resseger (2010[4]), The complementarity between cities and skills; Gould (2007[5]) Cities, Workers, and Wages: A Structural Analysis of the Urban Wage Premium
Men and high-income earner in the GCR are indeed more likely to be cross-border workers. Figure 2.7 shows that in the fourth quarter of 2023, 63% of all cross-border workers in the GCR were men, consistent with long-distance commuting patterns observed in other countries (see Box 2.3). The gender imbalance can be observed for cross-border work in both directions. Figure 2.8 presents the gross monthly income distribution of cross-border workers by income brackets, revealing a skew towards higher earners. In the fourth quarter of 2023, 31% of all cross-border workers earned a gross monthly income exceeding Danish Krone (DKK) 50 000 (EUR 6 700), while more than 63% earned over DKK 33 333 (EUR 4 466).5 Only 11% earned less than DKK 16 777 (EUR 2 248). For comparison, in 2023, the average monthly gross salary in Scania was Swedish Krona (SEK) 42 000 (EUR 3558).6
The significant appreciation of the DKK against the SEK over the past decade has made living in Sweden while working in Denmark increasingly attractive. In August 2012, the DKK-SEK exchange rate was nearly at parity (1.11), but it has risen steadily since then, reaching 1.54 by August 2024. This represents a 38% appreciation of the DKK over the 12-year period.7 As a result, earning an income in Denmark and converting it into SEK has become more favourable for Swedish residents. While the future trajectory of the DKK-SEK exchange rate remains uncertain, current long-term trends incentivise cross-border work for those living in Sweden and may have contributed to the recent rise in cross-border work.
Cross-border work by sex in Q4/2023
Note: 42 cross-border workers could not be classified.
Source: Oresund Statbank table OEPEN4KD.
The share of cross-border workers by income bracket in Q4/2023
Note: Monthly data calculated as one third of the reported total gross quarterly income. Exchange rate EUR-DKK applied for calculation in figure heading as of 1 November 2023.
Source: Oresund Statbank table OEPEN7KD.
Most cross-border workers in the GCR work in the transportation sector, business support services, or the wholesale and retail sector. In the fourth quarter of 2023, 3 700 cross-border workers were employed in the transportation sector, with 3 600 residing on the Swedish side of the GCR and working on the Danish side (Figure 2.9). This flow can in large parts be attributed to the presence of Copenhagen Airport, the region’s main transport hub. A total of 3 600 cross-border workers were employed in “other business activities,” which includes administrative and support services, as well as specialised professional, scientific, and technical services that support business operations. Of these, 3 300 were employed on the Danish side. The wholesale and retail sector employed 2 900 cross-border workers, with 2 700 residing on the Swedish side and working on the Danish side of the GCR. Other sectors with a significant number of cross-border workers include “human health and social work” (2 000), “information and communication” (1 800), and “manufacturing, mining, and quarrying” (1 700).
The sectoral cross-border work patterns indicate some complementarities between the Swedish and Danish sides of the GCR labour market. First, while the majority of cross-border employment involves residents of Sweden working in Denmark across all sectors, the patterns for Denmark residents working in Sweden are similar but not identical. For example, although business support activities account for the largest instances of cross-border employment (300), the second-largest are observed in the education sector (250). Second, comparing the sectoral distribution of cross-border employment displayed in Figure 2.9 with the sectoral growth patterns shown in Figure 2.4 reveals a strong correlation between cross-border employment and the rate of sectoral employment growth on the Danish side. This suggests that Danish employers are tapping into the Swedish labour force to support their expansion. Collectively, these patterns point to a degree of economic complementarity across the GCR.
Cross-border employment by sector of economic activity in Q4/2023
Note: The sectors of economic activity are categorised according to NACE Rev. 2. Seven cross-border workers could not be classified.
Source: Oresund Statbank table OEPEN4KD.
Third-country nationals constitute a substantial share of the total population on both sides of the GCR. Figure 2.10 illustrates trends in the total population (left axis) and the share of third-country nationals (TCNs, right axis), defined as a foreign citizen who resides in an EU member state and has the nationality of a non-EU-27 country. The figure displays these statistics for Scania and Halland, the Swedish side of the GCR, and the Capital Region and Region Zealand, the Danish side of the GCR, from 2014 to 2023. The total population shows a modest but steady increase over the observed period, peaking in 2023 at 1 766 000 on the Swedish side and 2 742 000 on the Danish side. On average, between 2014 and 2023, the population of non-EU citizens stood at 66 000 on the Swedish side of the GCR, corresponding to around 4% of the total population in Scania and Halland. The decrease from 2019 onwards partly reflects the nationalisation of refugees who arrived between 2014 and 2016 when the EU experienced large inflows of asylum seekers and who started to become eligible for Swedish citizenship. It could also possibly be linked to more restrictive immigration policies in recent years. The share of TCNs residing in Scania and Halland is on par with Sweden as a whole (4% in 2023).8 On the Danish side of the GCR, the share of TCNs increased from 5.3% in 2014 to 6.9% in 2023, rising from 135 400 to 187 900 in absolute terms.
Total population and share of third-country nationals residing in Scania and Halland, and the Capital Region and Region Zealand, 2014 to 2023
Note: Third-country nationals defined as non-EU citizens. For Sweden, non-EU citizens only include those who neither have European citizenship nor Swedish citizenship. Thus, the total number of non-EU citizens is slightly above the one displayed.
Source: OECD calculations based on Statistics Sweden, table “Population per region by citizenship and sex. Year 2010 – 2023” and Statistics Denmark, table “Population at the first day of the quarter by age, sex, citizenship, region and time”.
The improved integration of the GCR’s labour market has opened opportunities in the labour market for many of the region’s residents, but non-tertiary educated TCNs on the Swedish side of the GCR have yet to significantly benefit. Figure 2.11 illustrates the employment rates of TCNs by educational attainment, compared to citizens of the respective countries in different parts of the GCR. Panel A shows that only 44% of less educated TCNs aged 15 to 64 in South Sweden are employed, compared to 51% across the EU-27 and 57% in Denmark’s Capital Region. However, less educated Swedish citizens in South Sweden also exhibit a low employment rate of 42%, in contrast to 45% in the EU-27, 54% in Denmark’s Capital Region, and 55% in Zealand. Panel B shows that only 62% of medium-educated TCNs in South Sweden are employed. This is noticeably lower than the employment rates for Swedish nationals in South Sweden (79%), TCNs in the EU-27 (65%), and those in Denmark’s Capital Region (72%) and Zealand (80%). For tertiary-educated TCNs, the employment rate is 80% (Panel C), slightly below that of Denmark’s Capital Region (82%) and Zealand (87%), but well above the EU-27 average of 69%. However, a significant gap remains compared to Swedish citizens, whose employment rate stands at 89%.
Employment rate in the Greater Copenhagen Region and the EU-27 by educational attainment, 2023
Note: Data for non-EU citizens in the medium educated population refers to 2022, the latest year for which data is available. Data refers to the 15- to 64-year-old population.
Source: Eurostat table lfst_r_lfe2emprtn.
The unemployment rate among TCNs is higher than that of residence country citizens across all parts of the GCR, but the gap is significantly larger on the Swedish side. Figure 2.12 shows the unemployment rate of residence country citizens (Panel A) and TCNs (Panel B) in the EU-27, Denmark’s Capital Region, Region Zealand, and South Sweden from 2014 to 2023 for the 15–64 age group. Among residence country citizens, all parts of the GCR display unemployment rates close to the EU-27 average, with little variation over time. In 2023, the EU-27 average was 5.7%, compared to 4.4% in Denmark’s Capital Region, 4.3% in Region Zealand, and 7.1% in South Sweden, where unemployment has risen slightly in recent years. By contrast, the unemployment rate among TCNs is higher across all regions throughout the period. In 2023, the rate was 12.5% in the EU-27 and 9.7% in Denmark’s Capital Region, representing gaps of 6.8 and 5.3 percentage points, respectively, compared to residence country citizens. In South Sweden, however, the gap was far larger, at 16.9 percentage points, with TCN unemployment reaching 24% in 2023. Despite its significant drop from a decade-high of 36% in 2020, this suggests that TCN jobseekers continue to face challenges in finding employment in South Sweden.
Unemployment rate in the Greater Copenhagen Region between 2014 and 2023, citizens of residence country (Panel A) and third-country nationals (Panel B)
Note: Data for the unemployment rate of third-country nationals for Region Zealand only available for 2016, 207 and 2020.The unemployment rate of third-country nationals was 9.8% in Zealand in 2020. Data refers to the 15- to 64-year-old population.
Source: Eurostat table lfst_r_lfur2gan.
The proportion of TCNs among cross-border workers residing on the Swedish side of the GCR is notably low. Figure 2.13 illustrates the share of cross-border workers living in Scania or Halland and working in Denmark in 2015, the most recent year for which data on the citizenship of cross-border workers is available (see Box 2.4). Many of these workers held either Swedish (56%) or Danish (37%) citizenship. Approximately 6% were citizens of an EU member state other than Sweden or Denmark, while only 1% were TCNs, with over half of this group holding citizenship of an Asian country. Therefore, compared to their proportion in the overall population (see Figure 2.10), TCNs are underrepresented among cross-border workers residing on the Swedish side of the GCR.
Cross-border employment statistics on third-country nationals have only been available from official sources in Denmark and Sweden up to 2015. This limitation stems from changes in administrative practices following amendments to data exchange laws, which prohibited the exchange of microdata at the individual level between Statistics Sweden and Statistics Denmark. Although renewed cooperation between the two statistical authorities—funded by the Scania region—now enables the production of statistics on cross-border workers published in the Oresund Statbank, these statistics are primarily derived from each country’s tax authorities and do not currently include a breakdown by citizenship.
Source: Stender and Gullberg Brännström (2024[9]), Re-developing cross-border commuting statistics for the Öresund region.
In addition to cross-border workers, an increasing number of workers are being posted from Sweden to Denmark, with TCNs making up a small share. Nine hundred posted workers, defined as an employee temporarily sent by their employer to work in another country while retaining their contract with the original, were posted from Swedish employers to Denmark in 2021. In the same year, a total of 1 883 postings were registered, indicating that some workers were posted multiple times. Among posted workers in Denmark, 8.5% were TCNs (De Wispelaere, Pacolet and De Smedt, 2024[10]). These posted workers are not included in cross-border employment statistics. By 2023, the number of postings from Sweden to Denmark almost doubled to 3 422.9 While detailed breakdowns by nationality are not yet available, these trends underscore the growing demand for workers in Denmark, which TCNs could help to address.
Share of cross-border workers residing in Scania or Halland who work in Denmark by nationality, 2015
Note: EU citizens include the UK but not Denmark and Sweden.
Source: OECD calculations based on Swedish register data.
References
[8] Andersson, M., N. Lavesson and T. Niedomysl (2018), “Rural to urban long-distance commuting in Sweden: Trends, characteristics and pathways”, Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 59, pp. 67-77, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JRURSTUD.2018.01.010.
[7] Cassel, S. et al. (2013), “Willingness to commute long distance among job seekers in Dalarna, Sweden”, Journal of transport geography, Vol. 28, pp. 49-55.
[10] De Wispelaere, F., J. Pacolet and L. De Smedt (2024), “Posting of workers: Collection of data from the prior declaration tools: reference year 2021”.
[2] Dijkstra, L., H. Poelman and P. Veneri (2019), The EU-OECD definition of a functional urban area.
[1] European Commission: Directorate-General for Employment, S. (2024), Cross-border work in EU and EFTA countries, Publications Office of the European Union, https://doi.org/10.2767/826498.
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[6] Giménez-Nadal, J., J. Molina and J. Velilla (2022), “Trends in commuting time of European workers: A cross-country analysis”, Transport Policy, Vol. 116, pp. 327-342, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.TRANPOL.2021.12.016.
[4] Glaeser, E. and M. Resseger (2010), “THE COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN CITIES AND SKILLS*”, Journal of Regional Science, Vol. 50/1, pp. 221-244, https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1467-9787.2009.00635.X.
[5] Gould, E. (2007), “Cities, Workers, and Wages: A Structural Analysis of the Urban Wage Premium”, The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 74/2, pp. 477-506, https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1467-937X.2007.00428.X.
[9] Stender, P. and S. Gullberg Brännström (2024), Re-developing cross-border commuting statistics for the Öresund region, Statistics Denmark and Statistics Sweden.
← 1. See Eurostat table “Population on 1 January by age group, sex and NUTS 3 region”, demo_r_pjangrp3.
← 2. Data refers to the period 2014 to 2023. Extracted from Eurostat table “Population on 1 January by age group, sex and NUTS 3 region [demo_r_pjangrp3]”.
← 3. See Oresund Statbank table OEPEN12D.
← 4. See Oresund Statbank table OEPEN60D.
← 5. ECB exchange rate as of 1 November 2023. See https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-dkk.en.html.
← 6. See Statistics Sweden, “Average monthly salary by regions, 2023”. ECB exchange rate SEK/EUR of 11.806 as of 1 November 2023 applied. See https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-sek.en.html.
← 7. Data extracted from the Danish National Bank (Danmarks Nationalbank) under the following URL: https://www.nationalbanken.dk/api/currencyrates?format=csv&lang=en&isoCodes=SEK (accessed 19/09/2024). Monthly exchange rates are calculated based on daily averages.
← 8. See Statistics Sweden, “Population per region by region, citizenship, sex and year”.
← 9. Danish Business Authority: Registret for Udenlandske Tjenesteydere (”Register of Foreign Service Providers”, RUT); data available online at: https://erst.virk.dk/rut3/public/forespoergsel/liste (accessed 19/09/2024).