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Majority of Norwegians positive about refugees as colleagues: survey

Xinhua, April 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

A recent survey showed more than half of Norwegians would be happy to have refugees as colleagues and consider them resources for the country's economy, Norway's leading newspaper Aftenposten reported on Thursday.

Fifty-two percent of Norwegian employees are glad their company employs refugees and 53 percent think refugees are resources for Norway's workforce, according to a survey conducted by ManpowerGroup, a U.S.-based multinational human resource consulting firm.

Maalfrid Brath, managing director of ManpowerGroup's office in Norway, told Aftenposten she believed employment was of great importance to refugees.

"I think it is the most important way for refugees to integrate and it is thus good to see that so many people are positive about having them as colleagues," Brath said.

But Brath also said she was aware of the scepticism some of the 1,900 people surveyed might have.

Some of this scepticism regarding the increasing number of refugees in Norway could resonate with the higher unemployment rates recently, she added.

Norwegians have differing opinions on how their country tackles the increasing number of newcomers to Norway. It is expected that 60,000 refugees could arrive in Norway this year, double the number that arriving in 2015.

Among those who believe Norway should receive more refugees, 78 percent are convinced that refugees would bring a competitive advantage for companies. Only 18 percent believe there are already too many refugees in the country, the report said.

In a similar survey in 2014, 44 percent of Norwegians interviewed had a positive response when asked about having more multicultural colleagues, while 57 percent answered the same this year.

Brath said she was happy with this positive development as she believes refugees are untapped resources.

"Still, it will take a long time until we have a sufficient number of employed refugees. The key we use to achieve this is the combination of language training and competency mapping," she said. Endit