Employment in the petroleum industry and related industries 2013

This report describes of employment in the petroleum industry and related industries which produce goods and services targeting the petroleum industry. This last group is referred to as petroleum related industries. The main focus in this report is on the situation in 2012 and 2013, but some figures go back to 2003.

In 2012 there where 81 921 employees in the petroleum and petroleum-related industries combined. Of these, 76 631 were settled in Norway, while 5 290 were settled in other countries and were only in Norway as part of their work assignment. Since a characteristic of offshore work is shift rotation with long periods on leave, working offshore is suitable for long commutes.

Between 2012 and 2013 employment increased by 5 026 persons, or 6.5 percent, which was a lower increase in employment compared to the period between 2011 and 2012, with an 10.9 percentage increase. Employed foreign residents increased by as much as 15.4 percent between 2012 and 2013, slightly up from 14.3 percent from 2011 to 2012.

While most of the activity in the petroleum industry and the petroleum-related industries is located offshore and in a few municipalities in Western Norway, employees are settled in almost all Norway’s municipalities, or as much as 416 out of the total of 428 municipalities. Most municipalities house only a few employees from these industries. Sola and Stavanger are the two municipalities with the highest ratio of employees working in petroleum industries, with 16.2 og 15.0 percent. Stord was the municipality with highest proportion of residents employed in petroleum related industries, 17.1 percent.

Compared to the rest of Norway’s private sector, a larger proportion of employees in the petroleum and petroleum-related industries have higher education but a lower percentage of female employees, although the percentage of female employees has increased from 16.4 percent in 2003 to 21.0 percent in 2012. This increase in female employment consists largely of higher educated women. 60.1 percent of female employees had a higher education, compared to 37.1 percent of male employees.

A higher percentage of immigrants employed in the petroleum industries have a background from Western Europe, compared to immigrants employed in petroleum related industries as well as the rest of private sector in Norway.