Signs of weaker growth in employment

From the second quarter last year to the second quarter this year, there were 56,000 more people employed and 20,000 fewer unemployed in Norway. However, the growth in employment and decline in unemployment was weak toward the end of the period. The seasonally adjusted monthly figures show little change from the first to the second quarter this year.

Five years of nearly continual growth in employment brought the working population to a record high the second quarter. As much as 73.7 per cent of the labour force (16-74 years) had jobs, compared to 72.9 per cent the same quarter last year.

Labour force participation rose by 1.1 percentage point for women and 0.5 for men. Most age groups showed growth in employment. The greatest increase was among persons under 30, new figures from Statistics Norway's labour force survey (LFS) show.

Employment rose in most trades and industries. The strongest upswing was in business services, commodity trading, building and construction as well as oil and gas production. In the primary industries employment decreased. Fewer unemployed and more underemployed

A total of 85,000 people were unemployed in the second quarter, comprising 3.6 per cent of the labour force, as opposed to 4.6 per cent in the second quarter last year. In the same period, unemployment dropped from 4.3 to 3.6 per cent for men and from 4.9 to 3.8 per cent for women.

New Statistics

Labour Force Survey, 2nd quarter 1998
The statistics are published quarterly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. Detailed figures are published in basic tables from the labour force surveys. For more information, contact: ole.sandvik@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 45 77, or inger.haland@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 47 80.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 33, 1998