Labour force survey, seasonally-adjusted figures, April 2006

The decline in unemployment from January (the December-February period) to April 2006 (March-May) is consistent with the development since the summer of 2005. Seasonally adjusted figures of registered unemployment at job centres show a decline of 4 000 people from January to April 2006.

Employment increased by 12 000 people from January to April 2006, but this is inside the Labour Force Survey (LFS) error margin. Since the summer of 2005, there has been significant growth in the number of employed.

Unemployment down in Germany and Finland

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Norway was 3.7 per cent in April 2006, compared with 4.0 per cent in January. The rate in the EU15 area fell from 7.7 to 7.5 per cent, and in the OECD area from 6.3 to 6.2 per cent. In the same period, unemployment stayed unchanged at 4.7 per cent in the USA. In Finland, the rate went down from 8.1 to 7.5 per cent. From January to April, unemployment fell from 9.1 to 8.9 per cent in France, and from 9.1 to 8.2 per cent in Germany, according to figures from the OECD and Eurostat .

Fewer man-weeks worked

From January to April 2006, man-weeks worked fell by 48 000. However, this must be seen in association with the small number of extra days off in connection with the Christmas holidays in 2005, which lead to an extraordinary high level of man-weeks worked in January (the December-February period). The overall impression is that the man-weeks worked figures have been increasing since the beginning of 2004.

Changes in the LFS from 2006

With effect from January 2006, some improvements have been made in the Norwegian LFS. This will make the employment and unemployment figures more comparable with figures from the EU-countries. In addition, actual working hours will be measured more accurately. Therefore, the changes have lead to a level shift in the LFS figures. To maximize the comparability before/after 2006, the figures for the months in 2006 have been calculated according to the LFS prior to the changes.

Quarterly LFS figures, i.e. not seasonally adjusted, are presented in a separate article . The belonging tables contain figures for the first quarter of 2006, both according the LFS before and after the change. This will give an insight in the effects of the LFS changes on the various figures. For more details on the LFS, the seasonal adjustment method and the changes in the LFS, you can click on the links at the left side of this page.

Uncertain figures

The purpose of making adjustments for seasonal variations is to describe the development over the last year and provide figures of change between the last two three-month periods, corrected for normal seasonal variations. In order to reduce uncertainty, the published series are three-month moving averages of the seasonally adjusted figures. For instance, the figures for April represent the average of the estimates for March, April and May.

Tables:

• Table 1. Employment and unemployment for persons aged 16-74 years, seasonally adjusted, three-months moving average. Absolute figures in 1000 and unemployed persons in per cent of the labour force.