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Published:
This is an archived release.
Increasing employment
From June to September 2007 the number of employed rose by 22 000 people.
Adjusted for seasonal variations, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that the number of employed increased by 22 000 or 0.9 per cent from June (as measured by the average of the three months from May to July) to September (as measured by the average of the three months from August to October).
Unemployment nearly unchanged
The unemployment rate stood at 2.6 per cent of the labour force in September (as measured by the average of the three months from August to October), up by 0.1 percentage points (2000 people) from June (as measured by the average of the three months from May to July). This is inside the error margin of the LFS. 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 June (as measured by the average of the three months from May to July) to September (as measured by the average of the three months from August to October) the average number of man-weeks (37.5 hours) worked each week decreased by 10 000 adjusted for seasonal variations. This is inside the error margin of the LFS.
Unemployment down in Denmark
In Denmark, the unemployment rate fell from 3.7 per cent in June to 3.2 per cent in September. In Sweden, the unemployment rate rose from 5.8 per cent in June to 5.9 per cent in September. According to provisional figures, France saw unemployment drop from 8.7 per cent to 8.6 per cent in the same period. The figures for Germany are now based on the LFS in accordance with the other EU countries. This has resulted in an increase in the unemployment rate of 1 to 2 percentage points, but the new figures also confirm the trend of falling unemployment over the last years. The unemployment rate in Germany was down from 8.4 per cent in June to 8.1 per cent in September. The revision of the figures for Germany has also resulted in an increase in the unemployment level of the EU15 countries. The unemployment rate for the EU15 fell from 7 per cent in June to 6.9 per cent in September. The US saw unemployment increase from 4.5 to 4.7 per cent. (All figures refer to seasonally adjusted data from Eurostat .)
Employment and unemployment figures include permanent residentsThe 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 figuresThe 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:
The statistics is published with Labour force survey.
Contact
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Arbeidsmarked og lønn
E-mail: arbeidsmarked@ssb.no
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Erik Herstad Horgen
E-mail: erik.horgen@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 93 08 68 62