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/en/arbeid-og-lonn/statistikker/akumnd/maaned
92241
Growth in unemployment
statistikk
2013-02-27T10:00:00.000Z
Labour market and earnings;Labour market and earnings
en
akumnd, Labour force survey, seasonally-adjusted figures, LFS, labour market, employees, unemployed, economically active, man-weeks worked, labour forceUnemployment , Employment , Labour market and earnings
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Labour force survey, seasonally-adjusted figures, December 2012

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Growth in unemployment

The number of unemployed persons increased by 11 000 from September to December 2012. The 96 000 unemployed in December corresponded to 3.6 per cent of the labour force.

Employment and unemployment for persons aged 15-74. Seasonally-adjusted series1Published 27 February 2013
December 2012Change from the previous non-overlapping three-month period
1Three-month average named by the senter month.
Unemployed persons96 00011 000
In per cent of the labour force3.60.4
 
Employed persons2 593 000-11 000
In per cent of the population68.8-0.5

Source: Statistics Norway

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that there were 11 000 more unemployed persons in December (average of November-January) than in September (average of August-October) 2012, adjusted for seasonal variations.

By comparison, the number of people registered as unemployed or on government initiatives to promote employment with the Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) decreased by 1 000 in the same period. This decrease happened among those on government initiatives, while there was an increase among those registered as unemployed but not receiving unemployment benefits. This group is larger in the LFS figures on unemployment than in the NAV figures.

The increase in unemployment shown by the LFS happened both among the under 25s and those aged 25-74 – and also among both women and men. The 96 000 unemployed in December corresponded to 3.6 per cent of the labour force , up 0.4 percentage points from September.

No longer increase in employment

The small changes in employment shown by the LFS since June 2012 represent a break in an almost two-year long growth in employment until that point of time. The LFS showed a decrease in employment of 11 000 persons from September to December 2012, adjusted for seasonal variations. This change is within the LFS error margin. During the same period, the population aged 15-74 years increased by 14 000 persons. The employment rate – which is employed persons as a percentage of the population aged 15-74 – went down from 69.3 per cent in September to 68.8 per cent in December.

Unchanged labour force

The labour force is the total of employed and unemployed persons between 15 and 74 years of age. From September to December 2012, the LFS showed a decrease in employment of 11 000 persons, and an increase in unemployment of 11 000. Therefore, the number of persons in the labour force was unchanged during this period.

Unemployment growth also in Denmark

In Denmark, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment went up from 7.4 per cent in September to 8.0 per cent in December. In Sweden, unemployment remained almost unchanged at 8.0 per cent during this period. In the EU15, unemployment increased from 10.8 per cent in September to 10.9 per cent in December. The international figures refer to seasonally-adjusted data from Eurostat.

Employment and unemployment figures include permanent residentsOpen and readClose

The LFS only includes persons who are registered as residents in the population register. Persons working in Norwaywho are not registered as permanent residents or who are planning to stay for less than six months are not included in the employment figure in the LFS. If these people lose their job it does not count as a fall in employment or a rise in unemployment. In national accounts figures (NR), employed non-residents are included in the employment figure as long as they work in an establishment in Norway. If employment decreases in this group it will count as a fall in employment in NR. Statistics Norwaypublishes separate figures for all registered non-residents once a year. See short-term immigrants.

Uncertain figuresOpen and readClose

The purpose of making seasonal adjustments is to describe the development over the last year, corrected for seasonal variations. In order to reduce uncertainty, the published series are three-month moving averages of the seasonally-adjusted figures. However, uncertainty means that sampling errors must be considered when interpreting the figures from the LFS. We normally compare the latest non-overlapping three-month periods. An overview of sampling errors in the LFS can be found in About the statistics .

 The complete time series is re-estimated each month, and this may cause some adjustments of previously published figures. See Revisions for more information. Interviews that arrive late are included in the LFS the following month. This applies to the first two months in each quarter.

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