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This is an archived release.
Unemployment and employment unchanged
Unemployment was stable from June to September, and constituted 2.5 per cent of the labour force in September 2008. Employment was also stable in this period.
Adjusted for seasonal variations, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that the number in employment increased by 8 000 from June (as measured by the average of the three months from May to July) to September (as measured by the average of the three months from August to October). A change of 8 000 is inside the error margin. The figures for the age groups 16-24 and 25-74 show that growth has ceased specifically among young people compared to the situation up to the first quarter of 2008. For figures by age, see StatBank
Stable unemployment
The unemployment rate stood at 2.5 per cent of the labour force in September (as measured by the average of the three months from August to October), and was 2.6 per cent in June (as measured by the average of the three months from May to July). Since the summer of 2007, unemployment has fluctuated between 2.4 and 2.6 per cent, which is inside the error margin of the LFS. Seasonally-adjusted figures for people registered unemployed and on government measures to promote employment with the Labour and Welfare Organisation (NAV) increased by 2 000 from June to September. The latest figures from NAV show an increase of 2 000 also from September to October.
The complete time series is re-estimated each month, and this may cause some adjustments of previously published figures. When the figures for last month were published, the unemployment rate for June was 2.5 per cent, while it has now changed to 2.6 per cent. See Revisions for more information .
Man-weeks worked
From June (as measured by the average of the three months from May to July) to September (as measured by the average of the three months from August to October) the average number of man-weeks (37.5 hours) worked each week increased by 19 000 adjusted for seasonal variations.
Unemployment up in the USA and Sweden
In the USA, unemployment increased from 5.5 to 6.1 per cent from June to September, and in Sweden it rose from 5.8 to 6.3 per cent. France had a smaller increase in the same period, while Germany and Denmark saw a fall in unemployment. All figures refer to seasonally adjusted data from Eurostat .
Employment and unemployment figures include permanent residentsThe LFS only includes persons who are registered as residents in the population register. Persons working in Norway, but who are not registered as permanent residents or who are planning to stay for less than six months, are not included in the number in employment in the LFS. Some of these will later become registered residents and then be included in the population covered by the LFS. Statistics Norway publishes separate figures for registered non-residents once a year. See short-term immigrants . |
Uncertain figuresThe purpose of making seasonal adjustments is to describe the development over the last year, corrected for seasonal variations. In order to reduce uncertainty, the published series are three-month moving averages of the seasonally adjusted figures. However, uncertainty means that sampling errors must be considered when interpreting the figures from the LFS. Usually we compare the latest non-overlapping three month periods. An overview of sampling errors in the LFS can be found in “About the statistics”, chapter 5 section 3. Quarterly LFS figures, not seasonally adjusted, are presented in a separate article . |
Tables:
The statistics is published with Labour force survey.
Contact
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Arbeidsmarked og lønn
E-mail: arbeidsmarked@ssb.no
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Erik Herstad Horgen
E-mail: erik.horgen@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 93 08 68 62
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Ole Sandvik
E-mail: ole.sandvik@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 99 04 82 06