ABSTRACT
Denmark has a comprehensive welfare state with a wide range of services including universal healthcare and poor relief. Such a system is expensive and is one of the reasons why taxes in Denmark are so high (at least compared to the other European countries). The welfare system can only be upheld so long as the unemployment rate is relatively low; otherwise tax revenue will be too low. The unemployment rate for ethnic Danes was around 3% in the year 2006, but around 9% among fi rst-and second-generation immigrants living in Denmark. Among non-Western immigrants the unemployment rate was around 12%.1 Such a high unemployment rate is a problem that needs to be addressed in a welfare system like Denmark’s. Addressing the problem requires an understanding of the factors that contribute to the relatively high unemployment rate among non-Western immigrants. One interpretation, voiced in political debates, is that it is the religious belonging of the immigrants that is to blame for the high unemployment rate. Hence this article will analyze if there is a connection between immigrant religion and unemployment.
