Via VG (Norwegian):
Per-Willy Amundsen, the Progress Party's (Frp) immigration spokesperson, says that Muslim immigrants participate the least in the labor market. His statement was harshly criticized by the Labour (Ap) and Christian Democratic (KrF) parties.
Last week the Brochmann committee published a report on the future of the welfare state in light of increased immigration. On Monday investor Jens Ulltveit-Moe told VG that non-Western immigrants erode the welfare state.
Per-Willy Amundsen continues on the same line, and adds religion as an argument.
"It's the immigrants from the Muslim world who score the worst in these studies," Amundsen told Dagsavisen.
He says cultural background is very important for labor-market participation and says that religion influences culture.
"It's striking that Indians have a much higher labor-market participation rate than Pakistanis. Those countries were once united, and what primarily differentiates them today is the religion and the culture tied to the religion."
His political opponents not unexpectedly disagree. Labor Minister Hanne Bjurstrøm (Ap) says it's unacceptable to generalize about people in such a way. Geir Bekkevold, immigration spokesperson for the Christian Democrats also rejected Amundsen's statements and called them disrespectful.
