Wages and salaries
Statistical sources
The earliest wage statistics provide information about the annual earnings of farm hands and maidservants and the daily pay for the most important groups of labourers in agriculture, forestry, the skilled trades, manufacturing and transport. The statistics, some of which date back to 1850, deal with normal wages. They are based on information elicited from town magistrates and rural police chiefs, compiled in conjunction with 5-year reports from chief county officers. These statistics were discontinued in 1920.
Agriculture and forestry
As regards workers in agriculture and forestry, the 5-year statistics were replaced by information about average wages compiled by the Royal Norwegian Society for Rural Development from up to 4 farmers in every rural municipality. In 1923-24 responsibility for these statistics was taken over by Statistics Norway, which continued to follow approximately the same procedure until 1968. Since then, wage statistics for agricultural workers have been based on records of gross cash payments and payments in kind during the month of September for all paid employees on farms of 150 decares or more. These statistics give information about gross average earnings, excluding overtime pay, for workers paid by the hour or by the month. From 1971 and until the whole series was discontinued in 1987, the statistics also covered workers in truck farming and market gardening.
Manufacturing
Statistics on average hourly earnings for workers in manufacturing firms affiliated with the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (CNBI) date back to the pre-WWI era, when employers' organisations began to keep wage statistics for workers employed by member firms. Due to differences in wage definitions and in the organisational affiliation of the various manufacturing groups, the figures for hourly wages in manufacturing prior to 1940 are not directly comparable with later statistics. The figures for average hourly earnings include hourly rates, piece-work rates and incentive pay. Overtime pay, shift bonuses and other allowances are also included, but not vacation or holiday pay.
Since 1954, the CNBI has compiled wage statistics for salaried office workers in member firms with at least 5 employees. The figures for average monthly earnings comprise agreed monthly cash salaries as of 1 September plus the value of any payments in kind and the average value per month during the last 12 months of commissions, gratuities, and production and other bonuses. Overtime pay is not included.
Building and construction
Statistics on the hourly earnings of workers in private building and construction firms are compiled by CNBI in connection with the quarterly statistics for hourly earnings for manufacturing workers etc. The definition of average hourly wages is the same as for the statistics for manufacturing workers. Separate figures have been compiled for building and construction work since 1949.
Wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants
Wage statistics for employees in wholesale and retail trade have been compiled for every year since 1957, with the exception of 1963 and 1965. Through 1989, the statistics comprised all wholesale and retail establishments employing 3 or more persons. Since 1990, the limit has been set at 5 employees. The wage information did not cover owners, family members or other employees without regular wages and working hours. The figures for earnings presented in table 10.8 do not apply to directors, managers or part-time employees. Average monthly earnings are defined in the same way as CNBI's wage statistics for office workers.
Wage statistics for employees in hotels and restaurants are available from 1974 onwards. Up to 1990, the statistics covered both unorganised establishments and those affiliated with CNBI. Since 1990 the statistics have been based exclusively on returns from CNBI member establishments. Family members without a fixed salary or regular working hours, office workers, receptionists, managers and administrators are excluded from the statistics. As far as the full-time salaried employees to whom the figures in this publication apply are concerned, the statistics provide information about total average monthly earnings, including Sunday allowances and any amount deducted by the company for room and board. Overtime pay, holiday pay and any extra compensation for work on public holidays are not included.
Transportation
Statistics concerning the hourly earnings of workers in transport companies are compiled by CNBI as part of the quarterly wage statistics for manufacturing workers, etc. The statistics comprise primarily drivers and warehouse workers in wholesale establishments and dispatching companies, oil companies and petrol stations, bus companies and fish processing firms. Average hourly earnings are calculated in the same way as for the statistics on manufacturing workers.
Wage statistics have been produced since 1948 for seamen in foreign trade. The statistics are based on information concerning ships of 100 gross tonnes or more, operated by Norwegian owners in international waters and on which the crew were paid in accordance with Norwegian wage agreements. Average monthly earnings were defined as all cash payments earned during the census month, with the exception of holiday pay and pay for public holidays. Any free board or a meal allowance stipulated in the wage agreements was not counted in the figures for earnings. These statistics were discontinued in 1987.
Since 1951, wage statistics have been kept for seamen in scheduled coastal traffic. The statistics are based on information provided for ships of 100 gross tonnes or more, which are engaged in scheduled coastal traffic. The definition of average monthly earnings is the same as in the wage statistics for ocean transport.
Banking, insurance and business services
Statistics on monthly earnings for bank employees have been compiled since 1957 and annually since 1975. The statistics comprise employees of Norges Bank, commercial banks and savings banks. Table 10.13 contains figures on full-time employees in commercial and savings banks, excluding directors and managers. Average monthly earnings are defined in the same way as for salaried employees in CNBI member firms.
Wage statistics for salaried employees in the insurance business are compiled for the same years as for bank employees. The statistics comprise all employees apart from those working primarily on a commission basis and those without regular weekly working hours. Information about directors and part-time employees has been prepared separately and is not included in this publication. The definition of average monthly earnings is the same as for CNBI's wage statistics for office workers.
Statistics concerning the monthly earnings of business service employees were compiled for the first time in 1980. The statistics cover independent enterprises engaged in accounting, auditing, book keeping, data processing, architectural services, property brokerage and technical consulting services for construction activities. Advertising agencies and companies functioning as technical advisors are also included. Information about directors and part-time employees is not included in table 10.15. The definition of average monthly earnings is the same as that used for salaried employees in CNBI member firms.
Public and private sector services
Statistics concerning the earnings of local government employees have been compiled since 1958. In the period up to 1978, they were usually prepared every other year. After that, they were compiled annually until 1990, when they were combined with the wage statistics for employees in health care and social services. Prior to 1965, statistics for municipal employees comprised municipalities with a minimum of 2 000 inhabitants; since then, all municipalities have been covered. Since 1982, the statistics have also comprised county municipalities. Monthly earnings were defined as the sum of gross salary according to the official wage scale, plus scheduled increments such as personal allowances and regular overtime pay, and variable increments such as additional pay for stand-by duty, Sunday work and the like. Irregular overtime pay was not included in the monthly earnings.
Statistics on monthly earnings for central government employees were compiled in 1959, 1963 and 1969. Since 1973 they have been compiled annually in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration. The statistics comprise all central government employees paid according to the official scale of wages for civil servants. Monthly earnings are defined in the same way as they are for the statistics on local government employees.
Wage statistics were compiled for employees in publicly maintained schools in 1959, 1963 and 1967. Since 1973 they have been compiled annually in co-operation with the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration. The statistics comprise all teachers, head masters and local government school directors paid according to agreements between the central government and the relevant employee organisations. The figures cited in this publication concern, as for all other groups of salaried employees, only full-time employees. Their average monthly earnings are defined as the sum of gross salary in accordance with the official wage scale, both scheduled and variable increments and compensation for scheduled overtime. Since 1989, pay for unscheduled substitute work has also been included. During 1989, employees of colleges under the auspices of the Ministry for Church, Education and Research were transferred to the wage statistics for civil servants and government officials.
Statistics for health care and child care services were compiled in 1969 and 1973. From 1982 to 1989, annual wage statistics were prepared for municipal and county municipal health services and social welfare in cooperation with the Norwegian Association of Local Authorities. The definition of average monthly earnings has been the same as the one used for statistics on local government employees. The statistics have been combined with those for local government employees since 1990.
Wage statistics for employees of business, professional and labour associations have been compiled annually since 1980. They comprise both employer and employee organisations and technical and commercial trade associations with 3 or more employees. As usual, information about directors and part-time employees is not included in the figures in this publication. Average monthly earnings are defined in the same way as they are for the statistics on salaried employees in CNBI member companies.
Major wage trends
Figures from the series of wage statistics included in this edition of Historical Statistics indicate a significant growth in the average hourly or monthly earnings of all specified groups of wage and salary earners throughout the entire period covered.
The growth rates should not summarily be perceived as expressions of similarities or differences in wage trends. Wage statistics may be influenced by differences in factors such as coverage wage firm and census date in ways which could detract from the reliability of the comparisons. In that sense, the singularly most important difference is the one between statistics which present information on hourly earnings and those on monthly earnings. The wage development figures for employees paid by the hour showed stronger growth from 1959 to 1989 than those for employees paid by the month because the average hourly figures include wage compensation for general reductions in the work week. Once the figures for hourly earnings are adjusted to express earnings per average working month, they become consistent with the wage trend for employees paid by the month. Otherwise, there are differences in the scope and composition of individual statistics
which ought to be taken into account in studies of wage trends.
The time series on wages and salaries presented in this publication cover altogether 1/2 - 3/4 million full-time wage and salary earners, and each of them is assumed to be reasonably comparable over time. Individually as well as collectively, the series should constitute a sound basis for describing wage trends. With an eye to providing an overall view of the general wage trend, we have calculated figures for the average monthly earnings of all full-time employees over the past 3 decades. The number of employees covered by the wage figures for each of the 20 wage-earner groups has been used to weight calculated averages. The fact that the series for several wage-earner groups do not cover the entire 30-year period means the averages were primarily calculated on the basis of parts of the period. The sub-series were subsequently linked to the series covering all wage-earner groups.
Estimated average monthly earnings for all wage and salary earners (see figure 10.1) increased from 1 200 kroner in 1959 to 15 300 kroner in 1989. That is to say that the monthly earnings of wage and salary earners employed full-time increased 12 1/2 times or by an average of 8.5 per cent per year over the past 30 years. In terms of kroner, the annual increase in wages and salaries has shown a tendency to rise throughout the entire period, but in terms of the percentages, growth in earnings was greatest in the 1970s and early 1980s. While annual wage growth averaged 11.1 per cent from 1970 to 1982, it averaged 7 per cent in the 1960s and 7.3 per cent for each of the last 7 years of the 1980s.
Expressed in terms of a fixed krone value (real wage), the development in wages looks considerably different. As is reasonable, real wages showed more moderate growth than wages in current kroner. From 1959 to 1989, real wages increased 1.8 times or by an average of 2 per cent annually. Real wage growth was confined to the years up to 1977; from then on real wages remained at approximately the same level. In the 18-year period up to 1977, real wages climbed by an average of 3.3 per cent annually; the corresponding growth rate was just 0.1 per cent during the next 12 years.
Looking at men and women separately, the summary of the wage statistics figures shows that monthly earnings for the 2 sexes have climbed at approximately the same rate throughout the entire 30-year period (see figure 10.2). In fact, the difference in estimated average monthly earnings for men and women increased from 550 kroner in 1959 to 2 950 kroner in 1990. Nevertheless, the figures express a great reduction, relatively speaking, in the wage gap between women and men. Calculated as a percentage of average monthly earnings for women, the wage difference (male bonus) thus decreased from 66 per cent in 1959 to 21 per cent in 1990. The "male bonus" showed a relatively even decline in the years up to 1983; recently it seems to have stabilized at a level of about 21-23 per cent.