92237_not-searchable
/en/arbeid-og-lonn/statistikker/aku/kvartal
92237
Small changes in labour force participation
statistikk
2013-01-30T10:00:00.000Z
Labour market and earnings;Labour market and earnings;Immigration and immigrants
en
aku, Labour force survey, LFS, labour market, employees, unemployed, economically active, labour force, labour force status, employees by industry, underemployment, part-time work, hours of work, temporary staffUnemployment , Employment , Labour market and earnings, Labour market and earnings, Immigration and immigrants
false

Labour force survey, Q4 2012

Content

Published:

This is an archived release.

Go to latest release

Small changes in labour force participation

Labour force participation decreased somewhat from the 4th quarter of 2011 to the same quarter of 2012. The decrease applied to both men and women but was strongest among the male population.

Population aged 15-74, by labour force status and sexPublished 30 January 2013
4th quarter 20124th quarter 2011 - 4th quarter 2012
Absolute numbersPer centChange in absolute numbersChange in percentage points
Labour force
Total2 676 00071.033 000-0.3
Males1 417 00073.817 000-0.5
Females1 258 00068.115 000-0.2
 
Employed persons
Total2 589 00068.727 000-0.5
Males1 367 00071.214 000-0.6
Females1 222 00066.113 000-0.4
 
Unemployed
Total86 0003.26 0000.2
Males50 0003.53 0000.2
Females36 0002.93 0000.2

Source: Statistics Norway

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that the share of labour force participants aged 15-74 years was 71.0 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2012, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. The labour force participation among men aged 15-74 years was 73.8 per cent, down from 74.3 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2011. Among women, labour force participation went down by 0.2 percentage points in the same period, to 68.1 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2012.

Higher employment among young women

The number of employed women aged 15-24 increased by 12 000 from the 4th quarter of 2011 to the same quarter of 2012. The total employment growth among persons aged 15-74 years was 27 000 during the same period. The employment growth was smaller in the 4th quarter of 2012 than in the other quarters of 2012, compared to corresponding quarters in the previous year.

86 000 unemployed

In the 4th quarter of 2012, 86 000 persons were unemployed – corresponding to 3.2 per cent of the labour force. This was an increase of 6 000 persons and 0.2 percentage points from the 4th quarter of 2011. The increase was mainly among the under 25s. Unemployment was 8.7 per cent among persons aged 15-24 years in the 4th quarter of 2012, an increase of 1.3 percentage points from the previous year.

The share of long-term unemployed decreased from 33 per cent of the unemployed in the 4th quarter of 2011 to 30 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2012. Long-term unemployed are persons who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks. The average period of time an unemployed person has been unemployed was 26 weeks in the 4th quarter of 2012.

67 000 underemployed

In the 4th quarter of 2012, 67 000 persons were underemployed, up by 5 000 from the previous year. The underemployed are part-time employees who have tried to find more work. The share of underemployed among part-time employees was 10 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2012, 1 percentage point higher than in the 4th quarter of 2011. The majority of underemployed persons are women. This must be seen in relation to the prevalence of part-time employment among women.

The time the underemployed wanted to work extra in the 4th quarter of 2012 corresponded to 25 000 full-time jobs. Adding the time that the unemployed wanted to work that quarter, the work wanted by these two groups corresponded to 97 000 full-time jobs.

Additional informationOpen and readClose

The labour force

The labour force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons between 15 and 74 years of age. From the 4th quarter of 2011 to the 4th quarter of 2012, the LFS shows that employment rose by 27 000 persons and unemployment by 6 000 persons. This gives an increase in the labour force of 33 000 persons. In the same period, the population aged 15-74 increased by 62 000 persons. The labour force participation rate decreased somewhat.

Coherence between the concepts

Unemployed + Employed = Labour force

Labour force + Outside the labour force = Population

Seasonally-adjusted figures: increase in unemployment

Adjusted for seasonal variations, the unemployment rate went up from 3.1 per cent in the 3rd quarter of 2012 to 3.5 per cent in the 4th quarter. The number of employed persons decreased by 3 000 during the same period. This change is within the LFS margin of error. Adjustments for seasonal variations allow for the analysis of underlying developments in the labour market. Seasonally-adjusted figures are presented in a separate article .