Employment in the power supply industry and related industries 2011

The report’s main objective is to investigate employment within the power supply industry and the power supply related activities. The report will describe the composition of employees in regard to sex, age and education.

The power supply industry is defined in Statistics Norway’s Standard Industrial Classification, as “Production and distribution of electricity”. The group of companies related to power supply related activities employ similar persons in regard to education and occupation, typical to companies in the power supply industry. These two groups make up the power supply sector in this report.

In 2011 there were 18 450 employees in the power supply sector. This constitutes an increase of nearly 13.5 per cent since 2004 and 1.1 per cent since 2010. The sex distribution of about 80 per cent men and 20 per cent women has been fairly stable since 2004. The power supply sector has a low share of women among its employees compared to the private sector in general. In 2011 the level of education in the power supply sector was higher than for the private sector in general. Since 2004, the share of persons with higher education has increased from 27 to 33 per cent.

Employees in the power supply sector are on average older than employees in the private sector. The employees have matured since 2004, but in the last few years, there have also been signs of fresh recruitment.

The power supply industry had a net influx of 380 new employees, in the period between 2009 and 2011. There were 1678 new employees and 1298 employees lost in the sector due to attrition.

If we look at the supply of new employees who were also employed in 2010, 14.2 percent of female employees worked in temporary staff recruitment agencies. Temporary work seems to be an important entry gate to the power supply industry for women. Among men, the building- and construction sector was the most common background for new employees in the power supply industry.

Among people who quit their job in the power supply industry between 2010 and 2011, 46 percent did not work in 2011.