Continuing increase in the workforce

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The labour force participation rate was 70.7 in the third quarter of 2017, which is a year-on-year increase.

Written by: Håvard Lien

The labour force participation rate, or labour force, as a percentage of the total population aged 15-74, was 70.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2018, according to Statistics Norway’s Labour Force Survey. This is a year-on-year increase of 0.9 percentage points, and is the highest since the third quarter of 2016. The current labour force participation rate is nevertheless lower than in the period 2006-2015.

The labour force participation rate for women was 67.5, and 73.9 for men. Both are year-on-year increases, but the increase is considerably larger for men than for women: up 1.6 percentage points (p.p.) for men and up 0.3 p.p. for women. This trend is also in evidence when we divide the genders into age groups. Among the youngest group (15-24), the increase is 0.9 p.p. for men and 0.2 for women, and among the older group (25-66), the increase is 1.5 p.p for men and 0.4 for women.

Figure 1. Persons (15-74 years old) in the labour force, by sex. Percentage of total numer of persons in each group in the third quarter

Both Men Women
2006 72.2 75.8 68.5
2007 72.8 76.1 69.3
2008 73.9 77.3 70.4
2009 72.3 75.0 69.5
2010 71.7 74.6 68.8
2011 71.8 74.6 68.9
2012 71.4 74.1 68.6
2013 71.6 74.2 68.8
2014 71.0 73.8 68.1
2015 71.1 74.2 67.9
2016 70.7 73.2 68.1
2017 69.8 72.3 67.2
2018 70.7 73.9 67.5

Lower participation rate among the youngest and the oldest

If we consider the age structure of the labour force over a longer time span (figure 2), it is clear that there is a reduction in the number of economically active persons among the under 25s, but a small increase among those in their early 30s and early 50s. For the other age groups, the picture is more mixed.

Figure 2. Persons (aged 15-74) in the labour force, by age group. Percentage of total number of persons in each group

2018 2012 2006
15-19 39.6 42.4 45.7
20-24 72.9 75.0 76.4
25-29 84.4 83.8 86.7
30-34 88.5 85.2 86.5
35-39 88.4 88.6 87.5
40-44 86.6 88.4 88.4
45-49 87.7 88.1 86.4
50-54 84.7 84.3 84.5
55-59 80.5 80.2 77.5
60-66 59.5 63.3 57.7
67-74 12.6 17.3 14.0

More pensioners, fewer homemakers

We find two main patterns among those who are outside the labour force. The change happens slowly, so in order to identify the pattern we examine a twelve-year period (figure 3). The proportion of persons in education, who are in early retirement, permanently disabled, or job seekers is quite stable, but we clearly see that there is a marked decrease of homemakers and a rather large increase of pensioners.

Figure 3. Persons outside the labour force (per cent), by sex and main activity. Third quarter

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Men In education 30 29 29 29 31 30 31 29 30 28 29 28 28
Men Homemakers 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
Men In early retirement 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 5 4 5
Men Permanently disabled 29 29 29 30 29 28 26 28 27 26 25 24 25
Men In retirement 26 26 26 24 24 26 27 27 28 30 31 32 33
Men Job seekers 4 5 5 7 6 6 6 7 7 7 6 7 5
Men Other 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 4 3 3 3
Women In education 24 24 23 24 26 26 24 24 25 24 25 24 24
Women Homemakers 13 12 10 10 9 9 8 7 6 7 6 5 5
Women In early retirement 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 3 4
Women Permanently disabled 29 30 31 30 30 29 28 29 27 28 28 28 29
Women In retirement 22 23 24 23 23 24 26 27 28 28 30 30 31
Women Job seekers 4 4 4 5 4 4 6 6 6 6 5 6 5
Women Other 3 3 3 3 3 2 4 4 3 3 3 4 3

We also publish seasonally adjusted main indicators from the LFS each month, see akumnd.