Registered unemployed among immigrants (discontinued in Statistics Norway), Q4 2011

The decrease occurred mainly among men, both within the immigrant group and the population as a whole, with a decline of 1.8 and 0.4 percentage points respectively. The unemployment rate was unchanged among immigrant women, while it declined marginally among women in the rest of the population.

This tendency is due to a stronger fall in unemployment in the male dominated occupations within construction and manufacturing, compared to the female dominated occupations in the public sector. Hence, the registered unemployment rate among female immigrants is somewhat higher than the rate among the male immigrants; 6.3 versus 5.9 per cent. In the whole population, men still have the highest rate; 2.1 versus 1.6 per cent among women.

Strongest decrease among immigrants from Eastern EU countries

Immigrants from the EU countries in Eastern Europe had the strongest decrease in the registered unemployment rate; of 2.6 percentage points from the 4th quarter of 2010 to the 4th quarter of 2011. The other immigrant groups had declines between 0.1 percentage points (Western Europe) and 0.9 percentage points (Africa).

Immigrants from Africa still had the highest level in the fourth quarter of 2011, at 12.5 per cent. Then came immigrants from Asia with an unemployment rate of 7.8 per cent. Immigrants from Eastern Europe outside the EU and Latin America had almost equal rates; 6.6 and 6.5 per cent respectively, while the group from the EU countries in Eastern Europe had a rate of 5.9 per cent. As usual, there is a wide gap to the groups from the Nordic countries and Western Europe, which have considerably lower unemployment rates; 2.4 and 2.8 per cent respectively. The smallest immigrant group, those from North America and Oceania, had the lowest rate at 2.3 per cent.

The high level of unemployment among Africans is partly due to the dominance of refugees within this group. African immigrants have for several years had the highest registered unemployment rate irrespective of the economic cycles.

Increase among participants on labour market schemes

The number of immigrants on ordinary labour market schemes (job programmes) increased from

6 413 in November 2010 to 8 321 in November 2011, i.e. an increase of 1 908 participants. When looking at the rates of unemployed and participants on labour market schemes put together, there is still a declining tendency among the immigrants during the relevant period. We can also observe the same tendency among non-immigrants, where the number of participants increased from 9 032 to

10 687; an increase of 1 655 participants.

Also decrease among Norwegian-born to immigrant parents

Norwegian-born to immigrant parents is still a rather small group of unemployed. This group constituted 741 registered unemployed in November 2011. The majority within this group are aged 15-29 years, and the unemployment rate among them was 4.5 per cent, which was 1.4 percentage points higher than the corresponding age group in the majority population (at 3.1 per cent), but 2.3 percentage points below the immigrant group at the same age (at 6.8 per cent). Of these three young population groups, the immigrants had the strongest decline since November 2010, of 0.9 percentage points.

Tables:

• Table 1 Registered unemployed, by immigrant background, region of birth and sex. In absolute figures and in per cent of the labour force. By the end of November 2010 and 2011
• Table 2 Participants on ordinary labour market schemes (job programmes), by immigrant background, region of birth and sex. Absolute numbers and in per cent of persons aged 15 to 74 years. By the end of November 2010 and2011
• Table 3 Registered unemployed, by region of birth and time of residence in Norway. By the end of November 2010 and 2011. Absolute figures and in per cent of persons in total aged 15-74 years in each group
• Table 4 Registered unemployed, by immigrant background, region of birth and county of residence. Absolute numbers and in per cent of the labour force within each group. By the end of November 2010 and 2011
• Table 5 Participants on ordinary labour market schemes (job-programmes), by immigrant background, region of birth and county of residence. Absolute numbers and in per cent of persons aged 15 to 74 years in each group. By the end of November 2010 and 2011
• Table 6 Registered unemployed, by sex, immigrant background, region of birth and age. Absolute numbers and in per cent of the labour force in each group. By the end of November 2010 and 2011
• Table 7 Unemployed persons not registered as residents, by region of birth and sex. By the end of November 2010 and 2011
• Table 8 Unemployed persons not registered as residents, by region of birth and age. By the end of November 2010 and 2011