Registered unemployed (terminated in Statistics Norway), 2020

Municipality

Frequency: Monthly figures are published once a year (November figures). 

Timeliness: The reference point is the last Monday of every month. The figures are normally published in January of the following year.

No reporting

Microdata is stored permanently.

The purpose of the statistics is to provide regional figures on persons registered at employment offices in Norway either as unemployed or as participants of labour market measures, by age, gender, education, municipality of residence and county of residence. The statistics are based on data from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service’s (NAV) administration system, ARENA.

NAV and other local and central governmental bodies, researchers, the media and various organisations are the main users of the statistics. The statistics are primarily used to follow unemployment trends in municipalities and counties.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar. See Principles for equal treatment at ssb.no

Persons registered as unemployed at an employment office are not the same as those under the definition of unemployed in the Labour Force Survey. The figures from the survey also include unemployed persons who do not register at the employment office (this particularly applies to young persons and others with no entitlement to unemployment benefit), and some of those attending ordinary labour market measures (training courses). On the other hand, some of the registered unemployed are not classified as unemployed in the Labour Force Survey due to questions on seeking work and availability for the labour market. This particularly applies to older people with long periods of unemployment.

The statistics on the registered unemployed are most suited for users of statistics that require unemployment figures at municipality or county level. Regional unemployment figures are not released as part of the statistics from the Labour Force Survey on the other hand due to the size of the sample.

Statistics Norway also publishes separate statistics on registered unemployment and participants measures for immigrants .

NAV also publishes statistics from ARENA, and NAV’s municipal figures use residence as stipulated in ARENA, while Statistics Norway creates a link to the population register to find the person’s registered address on the reference date. There will always be minor discrepancies at regional/county level, therefore, when comparing figures from Statistics Norway and NAV. Figures on country level will, however, be the same.

The Statistics Act §§2-1, 3-2.

Not relevant

The statistics cover all persons who are registered in NAV’s administrative system either as unemployed or as participants of labour market measures (jobseekers taking part in ordinary measures and persons with a reduced capacity to work who are taking part in measures). This also includes persons who are foreign nationals who intend to stay in Norway for less than 6 months.

The statistics on unemployment and labour market measures are based on data from NAV’s administration system, ARENA (formerly SOFA). The register includes persons registered as unemployed, persons on ordinary labour market measures, and persons with a reduced capacity to work. The jobseeker data is registered locally with NAV.

Data on municipality of residence is retrieved from the National Population Register, with the exception of persons with no residence permit. As these are not registered with a fixed residence in the population register, the residence data is instead taken from ARENA where it is available.

Labour force figures from the Labour Force Survey are used to calculate unemployment rates. These figures are broken down at municipality level using NAV’s Employer (before 2015) and Employee Register. After 2015 these figures are broken down at municipality level by using employer from a-ordningen.

Not relevant

Statistics Norway receives monthly file extractions from ARENA, which form the basis for the statistics on registered unemployment and persons on labour market measures.

Checks are made to ensure that the figures are consistent with NAV’s national figures on persons who are unemployed and persons on labour market measures.

Not relevant

 Not applicable, only one publication per year. Statistics Month in November.

Where two or fewer persons are observed in a figure in a cell, and this can lead to a person being identified in the published material, the figure will be replaced with dots in order to protect their privacy.

In January 1999, NAV changed the definition of registered unemployed. Whether a person is regarded as unemployed or partly employed has subsequently been determined based on whether they have had paid work in the preceding two weeks. Persons were previously classified in one of the two categories based on whether their unemployment benefit was reduced. One problem with this was that persons could have reduced unemployment benefit payouts without having paid work. The change in the definition of unemployed on 1 January 1999 results in a break in the time series: the estimated consequence of the change is a fictitious increase in unemployment of around 7 per cent on average in 1999.

As from January 2002, the occupationally handicapped on ordinary labour market measures were grouped together with the rest of the occupationally handicapped taking part in measures (known as rehabilitation prior to the changeover). This resulted in a break in the figures relating to persons on labour market measures. Since January 2002, Statistics Norway has retrieved the figures on the occupationally handicapped taking part in ordinary measures from the figures on ordinary labour market measures, and placed them together with the occupationally handicapped taking part in measures for the occupationally handicapped (known as rehabilitation before the break). The classification was thus more in line with NAV’s practice, and ensured complete concordance between Statistics Norway and NAV’s definitions of ordinary labour market measures. The occupationally handicapped taking part in ordinary measures totalled on average around 5 000 in 2003, and around 1 200 in 2002 and 2001. As a transitional arrangement, figures were compiled with the new classification dating back to January 2001. Monthly figures are therefore available for both types of groupings for 2001.

At the beginning of 2004, the types of measures for the occupationally handicapped taking part in measures with NAV were reclassified. This led to a reduction of approximately 4 000 persons.

In 2009, NAV undertook major restructuring work in connection with a new directive on labour market measures, which came into force on 1 January 2009. The term “occupationally handicapped” was replaced with “persons with a reduced capacity to work”. Furthermore, the introduction of a work assessment allowance and assessment of capacity to work in March 2010 meant that recipients of rehabilitation benefits and recipients of fixed-period invalidity benefit from March 2010 were also classified as persons with a reduced capacity to work.

As a result of these changes, there has been a major increase in the number of persons with a reduced capacity to work, not on measures, from February (43 179) to March (136 563) in 2010. Statistics Norway has therefore discontinued the time series in StatBank of persons with a reduced capacity to work not taking part in a measure , since as from March this will contain an entirely different population to what the group originally consisted of (including more who will have medical follow-ups than occupational rehabilitation).

From the statistical year 2015, figures for registered unemployment will only be released once a year, with November as the reference month. NAV publishes figures every month. Statistics Norway focuses on publishing regional figures, as well as breakdowns of unemployed persons’ highest level of education. Statistics Norway releases monthly figures for a broader group of unemployed persons through the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

In 2018, NAV made several changes to rules and procedures, and this has led to a break in the time series for registered unemployment. The first change was to the regulations concerning work assessment allowance. Unemployed recipients can now be paid this allowance for up to six months, compared to the previous three months. In July, NAV introduced text message reminders for unemployed people to submit their employment status form if they are still seeking a job, and in November, a new system for registering jobseekers was introduced. As a result, jobseekers are now registered sooner than with the old system.  NAV’s statistics will therefore be affected due to this.

Due to these changes, figures on registered unemployment before the introduction of the new system are not directly comparable with later figures. Statistics Norway has therefore chosen not to comment on the figures in the latest news release this time, since the focus here was on the changes.

For more information on the break in the time series, see NAV’s statement.