Labour force survey, seasonally-adjusted figures, August 2007

Adjusted for seasonal variations, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that the number of employed increased by 13 000, or 0.5 per cent, from May (as measured by the average of the three months from April to June) to August (as measured by the average of the three months from July to September). This is inside the error margin of the LFS.

Unemployment unchanged

The unemployment rate stood at 2.5 per cent of the labour force in August (as measured by the average of the three months from July to September), the same as in May (as measured by the average of the three months from April to June). Seasonally adjusted figures of people registered unemployed and on government measures to promote employment with the Labour and Welfare Organisation (NAV) showed a decline of 3 000 in the same period.

Man-weeks worked

From May (as measured by the average of the three months from April to May) to June (as measured by the average of the three months from July to September) the average number of man-weeks (37.5 hours) worked each week decreased by 19 000 adjusted for seasonal variations.

Unemployment down in Sweden and Denmark

The unemployment rate in Sweden fell from 6.2 per cent in May to 5.7 per cent in August, and in Denmark the unemployment rate fell from 3.7 per cent to 3.3 per cent in the same period. In France, the unemployment rate fell from 8.8 per cent to 8.6 per cent. According to provisional figures, Germany saw unemployment drop from 6.5 per cent in May to 6.3 per cent in August. The unemployment rate for the EU15 fell from 6.6 per cent to 6.5 per cent in the same period. The US saw an increase in unemployment from 4.5 to 4.6 per cent. (All figures refer to seasonally adjusted data from Eurostat .)

Employment and unemployment figures include permanent residents

The LFS only includes persons who are registered as residents in the population register. Persons working in Norway, but who are not registered as permanent residents or who are planning to stay for less than six months, are not included in the number of employed in the LFS. Some of these will later become registered residents and then be included in the population covered by the LFS. Statistics Norway publishes separate figures for registered non-residents once a year. See short-term immigrants .

Uncertain figures

The purpose of making adjustments for seasonal variations is to describe the development over the last year and provide estimates of change between the last two three-month periods, corrected for normal seasonal variations. In order to reduce uncertainty, the published series are three-month moving averages of the seasonally adjusted figures. For instance, the figures for February represent the average of the estimates for January, February and March.

Quarterly LFS figures, not seasonally adjusted, are presented in a separate article .

Tables:

• Table 1. Employment and unemployment for persons aged 16-74 years, seasonally adjusted, three-months moving average. Absolute figures in 1000 and unemployed persons in per cent of the labour force.