On 21 January 2025, final figures for 2023 were published in the StatBank. See the section “Frequency and timeliness” under “Administrative information” in “About the statistics” for more information.
Statistikk innhold
Statistics about
Attachment to employment, education and welfare benefits
The statistics shows the population's attachment to employment, education and public welfare benefits. For individuals in the labour force, the statistics shows how work is combined with education or receiving welfare benefits. Individuals outside the labour force are divided into groups of statuses based on benefits they receive. The statistics includes all residents aged 15 years and over.
Selected figures from this statistics
- Reisdents 15 years and over by main labour force statusDownload table as ...Reisdents 15 years and over by main labour force status1
2023 2022 - 2023 Persons Per cent Persons, change from previous year Total 4 631 728 100.0 66 836 Labour force 2 916 595 63.0 32 216 Employed only 1 981 352 42.8 -4 740 Combine employment with other activities or benefits 893 891 19.3 31 319 Employed and in ordinary education 379 928 8.2 7 945 Employed and recipients of work assessment allowance 35 316 0.8 1 772 Employed and recipients of disability benefits 59 428 1.3 29 Employed and recipients of pensions 169 363 3.7 5 971 Other employed 249 856 5.4 15 602 Registered unemployed 41 352 0.9 5 637 Outside of the labour force 1 715 133 37.0 34 620 Participants in labour marked measures 51 507 1.1 7 244 In ordinary education 274 225 5.9 -494 Recipients of work assessment allowance 74 537 1.6 5 958 Recipients of disability benefits 266 509 5.8 1 246 Recipients of contractual early retirement pension 97 507 2.1 6 389 Recipients of retirement pension 733 128 15.8 7 000 Other benefits 52 737 1.1 5 088 Unknown status 164 983 3.6 2 189 1Residents aged 15 years and over. On 21 January 2025, the table was updated with final figures for 2023 after information on self-employed persons in 2023 became available. Information on self-employed persons from 2022, the year prior to the reference year, was utilized in the previously published figures to improve the timeliness of the statistics. This is referred to as preliminary figures and entailed some greater uncertainty due to different years of measurement. For more information, see the section ‘Frequency and timeliness’ under ‘Administrative information’ in ‘About the statistics’. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ... - Youth not in employment, education og training (NEET)Download table as ...Youth not in employment, education og training (NEET)1
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 NEET Persons 121 000 113 374 111 106 108 562 112 419 96 584 97 162 102 259 Per cent 11.7 10.9 10.7 10.5 11.0 9.5 9.5 9.9 In employment, education or training Persons 915 673 922 889 923 294 922 059 910 010 923 323 929 612 934 335 Per cent 88.3 89.1 89.3 89.5 89.0 90.5 90.5 90.1 Total number of residents aged 15–29 years 1 036 673 1 036 263 1 034 400 1 030 621 1 022 429 1 019 907 1 026 774 1 036 594 1Residents aged 15–29 years. On 21 January the table was updated with final figures for 2023 after information on self-employed persons in 2023 became available. Information on self-employed persons from 2022, the year prior to the reference year, was utilized in the previously published figures to improve the timeliness of the statistics. This is referred to as preliminary figures and entailed some greater uncertainty due to different years of measurement. For more information, see the section ‘Frequency and timeliness’ under ‘Administrative information’ in ‘About the statistics’. Explanation of symbolsDownload table as ...
About the statistics
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 2 March 2023.
Residents are persons who are expected to stay for more than six months in the country and are thus registered as residents in the Central Population Register (Det Sentrale Folkeregisteret). Measurement period for the number of residents in the statistics is the 4th quarter (third week of November) in the reference year.
Labour force is the sum of the employed and the registered unemployed, ie people with the attachment to the labor market.
Persons outside the labour force are persons who were neither employed nor registered unemployed in the reference week.
Employed persons are persons aged 15 years or more who performed work for pay or profit for at least one hour in the reference week, or who were temporarily absent from work because of illness, holidays etc. Conscripts are classified as employed persons. Persons engaged by government measures to promote employment are also included if they receive wages. This follows recommendations from the International Labour Organization, ILO.
Other employed comprises employees who also receive benefits not mentioned in other groups of employees in the statistics. These benefits include sickness benefits, pensions other than from NAV, unemployment benefits, cash-for-care benefits etc.
Unemployed is defined as persons who are seeking income-earning work and who are available to carry out such work. In addition, these persons must not have had any work for pay or profit in the preceding two weeks.
Participants in labour market measures are jobseekerswho, during the reference period, took part in a measure aimed for jobseekers.
Work assessment allowance ensures income during periods when, due to illness or injury, assistance is required from NAV to get back to work. Assistance may consist of work-related measures, medical treatment or other measures by NAV.
Disability benefits ensure income for persons who have their income permanently reduced due to illness or injury.
Contractual early retirement pension (AFP) is an early retirement scheme that can be received from the age of 62 years in the public and parts of the private sector.
Retirement pension through the National Insurance Scheme (folketrygden) ensures income in old age, as well as it allows for gradual transition from work to retirement. The level of retirement pension depends on the income through life and how many years one has lived in Norway. At the same time, everyone is guaranteed the minimum pension level even if they have not been employed.
Other benefits include for example recipients of cash-for-care benefits, single mother/father benefit and social assistance.
Unknown status means that there is missing information about the person in the registries that have been used to produce the statistics. Reasons for this can for example be:
- emigration without reporting to the Population Register,
- some welfare benefits (social assistance, cash-for-care benefit) are provided to the entire household and may be registered with another person in the household,
- some activities are not included in the data base, such as adult education.
Immigrants are individuals born abroad by foreign-born parents.
NEET is an abbreviation of "Not in Education, Employment or Training" used to describe youth outside work, education or training.
Working hours are calculated using the number of hours per week that constitute a full-time position, the percentage of the position and the number of paid hours.
Contractual percentage of full-time equivalent is what you have agreed to work according to your contract of employment. The employer shall not consider additional work, overtime or different types of absence from work or if the hours have been paid or not. The information on contractual percentage of full-time equivalent is based on what is reported to the a-ordningen. For persons that are paid by the hour without contractual working hours per week, e.g. on-call temporary workers, the employer can report 0 as contractual percentage of full-time equivalent. Statistics Norway will then calculate contractual percentage of full-time equivalent from what is reported as paid hours and number of hours that corresponds to a 100 per cent position in the moth of reporting.
Contractual working hours per week: By combining information regarding contractual percentage of full-time equivalent and number of hours per week in a full position, contractual working hours per week is calculated for each employment (job) and wage earner (person). The number of hours in a full position is the number of working hours that makes a full position in a similar employment. Unpaid lunchbreaks are withdrawn, but it is not adjusted for potential additional work, overtime or different types of absence from work.
Monthly earnings are the main term in Statistics Norway’s wage statistics. Monthly earnings cover basic salaries, variable additional allowances and bonuses. Overtime pay is not included in monthly earnings.
Basic salaries are the actual payment at the time of the census and are often described as salary by scale or regular basic wage. Qualification/skill allowance and other regular personal allowances are included in this type of wage. The wage or salary may be payment by the hour, week, fortnight or month.
The statistics shows monthly earnings and basic monthly salary in full-time equivalents.
Full-time equivalents: In the statistics, employees who work less than 100% are defined as part-time employees. In order to compare salaries between full-time and part-time employees, the wages of part-time employees are converted to the equivalent for full-time work. This is done using the percentage of each part-time employee’s position as a conversion factor. Monthly wages per full-time equivalent for part-time employees can then be merged with the monthly salary of full-time employees so that the average monthly earnings for all employees can be calculated.
The educational classification is in accordance with the Norwegian Standard Classification of Education Revised 2000 (NOS C 617).
In the statistics, only one status is calculated for the individual's attachment to the labour market, education and benefits. For persons active in multiple statuses at the same time, the highest priority status (for employed two highest priority statuses) is displayed. This status is based on a priority that takes into account the following criteria:
- The labour force has the highest priority when calculating a status. This ensures consistency with other registry-based employment statistics. This is also in line with the International Labour Organization's (ILO) recommendations on labour market statistics;
- Among people outside the labour force, the priority shows the degree of proximity to the labour force, and temporary activities / benefits are prioritized in front of more lasting activities / benefits;
- The decision about which status has priority must be based on good data quality.
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Priority of activities/welfare benefits, ordered from highest to lowest |
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Employed |
In the labour force |
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Registered unemployed |
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Participants in labour market measures |
Outside of the labour force |
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In ordinary education |
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Recipient of work assessment allowance |
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Recipient of disability benefits |
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Recipient of contractual early retirement pension |
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Recipient of retirement pension |
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Other benefits (cash-for-care, social assistance etc) |
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Unknown status |
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This priority implies for example that a person who is registered both in ordinary education and as a recipient of disability benefits, will be placed in the group “In ordinary education” in the statistics.
Information on educational attainment applies as of 1 October in the statistical year. In this statistics, an education grouping standard is used, where the highest completed education is classified in the following way: https://www.ssb.no/en/klass/klassifikasjoner/36/varianter/843