Registered unemployed among immigrants (discontinued in Statistics Norway), Q2 2005

As the fall in the total unemployment rate is relatively stronger than the fall in unemployment among immigrants, there are no obvious signs that the gap between the two will narrow. The unemployment level among immigrants still remains almost three times higher than for the population as a whole, and for immigrants from Africa the level is five times higher.

In these statistics, immigrants are defined as first-generation immigrants, i.e. people born abroad by foreign-born parents. They must also be registered as settled in Norway for at least 6 months. The figures are based on the Directorate of Labour's register of job seekers and are calculated as a fraction of the labour force.

New EU countries

The unemployment rate among immigrants from the new EU countries in Eastern Europe was 4.7 per cent at the end of May. This is almost on level with the unemployment rate among immigrants from North America and Oceania, which was 4.5 per cent in the second quarter. In comparison, the unemployment rate among immigrants from other eastern European countries was 10.6 per cent.

17 per cent unemployment among Africans

As mentioned, immigrants from Africa had the highest unemployment rate in May, at 17.5 per cent compared with 12.3 per cent for immigrants from Asia. The rate among immigrants from South and Central America was 10.1 per cent, whereas unemployment among immigrants from Eastern Europe as a whole was 8.9 per cent. As in previous surveys, immigrants from the Nordic countries had the lowest rate at 3.6 per cent, closely followed by other western European immigrants at 3.9 per cent.

The high unemployment rate among African immigrants must be seen in connection with the relative high proportion of newly arrived immigrants in this group, especially refugees from Somalia.

Fall mostly among men

Men experienced the strongest fall in unemployment in the period, both when we look at the population as a whole and the immigrant population. The decline was 0.6 and 1.1 percentage points respectively for the two groups. The total unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points among all women and 0.3 percentage points among immigrant women. Despite this development, unemployment is still highest among men: at 3.4 per cent compared with 3.1 per cent for the population as a whole, and 9.7 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent among immigrants.

Highest unemployment for immigrants with four to seven years of residence

The highest unemployment rate was recorded among immigrants with four to seven years of residence. In this group, the unemployment rate was 3.1 percentage points higher than among immigrants with a shorter period of residence (8.6 per cent and 5.5 per cent and measured as a percentage of the population aged 16-74 years). This disparity is most likely due to the fact that newly arrived non-western immigrants (mostly refugees) go through language and job training before they enter the labour force as registered job seekers. For immigrants with seven years of residence or more, the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 per cent.

Labour market schemes

The number of immigrants on ordinary labour market schemes (job programmes) fell from

5 924 in May 2004 to 4 971 in May 2005. They accounted for 29 per cent of all participants on such schemes in the second quarter and included mainly non-western immigrants.

As a percentage of the immigrant population, participation on labour market schemes fell from 2.3 per cent to 1.8 per cent. In the population as a whole the participant rate fell slightly from 0.6 per cent to 0.5 per cent.

Immigrants from Africa had the highest participant rate in May 2005 at 3.5 per cent. Immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe had participation rates at 2.4 and 2.1 per cent respectively.

Tables:

• Table 1 Registered unemployed aged 16-74 years, by region of birth and sex. By the end of February 2004, May 2004, February 2004 and May 2005. In absolute figures and per cent of the labour force
• Table 2 Participants in ordinary labour market schemes (job programmes), by region of birth and sex. By the end of February 2004, May 2004, February 2005 and May 2005. In absolute figures and per cent of persons aged 16-74 years
• Table 3 Registered unemployed and participants in ordinary labour market schemes (job programmes), by region of birth and time of residence in Norway. By the end of May 2004 and 2005. In per cent of persons in total aged 16 - 74 years
• Table 4 Registered unemployed, by region of birth and county of residence. By the end of May 2004. Absolute figures and in per cent of persons in total 16-74 years
• Table 5 Registered unemployed, by region of birth and county of residence. By the end of May 2005. Absolute figures and in per cent of persons in total 16-74 years
• Table 6 Registered participants in ordinary labour market schemes, by region of birth and county of residence. By the end of May 2005. Absolute numbers and in per cent of persons in total 16-74 years
• Table 7 Registered unemployed first generation immgrants from Eastern Europe, by EU status of the country of birth. By the end of May 2004 and 2005. Absolute figures and in per cent of the labour force