More immigrants have jobs

The employment rate among immigrants climbed by 2.3 percentage points last year. By comparison the increase in the general population was 1.4 percentage points. Immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Third World showed the greatest growth in employment.

At the end of 1996, the number of immigrants with a job was up 6,500 compared to the same time the year before. This is equivalent to a 2.3 per cent increase in the employment rate. The percentage of immigrants with jobs has increased for all immigrant groups. The biggest increase has been among immigrants from Eastern Europe, with 4.3 percentage points, followed by immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa. The slowest growth has been among immigrants from the Nordic countries, although they had the highest employment rate to begin with. Self-employed people are for the time being not included in the statistics.

Although employment rose the most among immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Third World, this immigrant group has a considerably lower employment rate than is found among Norwegian born persons and immigrants from Western countries. The lowest employment percentage in fourth quarter 1996 was among immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa, with 35 and 37 per cent, respectively. The general employment rate was 58.3 per cent at the same time.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 23, 1997