53574_not-searchable
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53574
More employed immigrants
statistikk
2011-06-28T10:00:00.000Z
Labour market and earnings;Immigration and immigrants
en
innvregsys, Employment among immigrants, register-based, immigrant background, country background, period of residence, employees, occupational groups, self-employed, industries (for example manufacturing, public administration, restaurants)Employment , Labour market and earnings, Labour market and earnings, Immigration and immigrants
false

Employment among immigrants, register-based2010, 4th quarter

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More employed immigrants

The number of employed immigrants increased by 23 700 from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2010. Since the immigrant population also increased, the employment rate was almost unchanged at 61.6 per cent. In the population as a whole this rate fell slightly from 69.7 to 69.1 per cent.

People born abroad to foreign-born parents are defined as immigrants. They must also be registered as resident in Norway for at least six months. Figures on employed persons on short-term stays have been published recently.

All employment figures are related to the population aged 15 to 74 years.

Despite a very small decline in the employment rate, there was, however, a growth in the number of employed immigrants of nearly 23 700 from the fourth quarter of 2009 to 2010. When the employment rate among immigrants nevertheless falls a little, this is due to a relatively strong growth in the population basis caused by an expanded immigration.

Strongest decrease among immigrants from Africa

We can observe opposite tendencies among the various immigrant groups. Immigrants from Africa and Western Europe (except the Nordic countries) had the strongest decrease in the employment rate, at 1.4 and 0.9 percentage points respectively. On the other hand, immigrants from Eastern Europe had the strongest increase; i.e. 0.5 percentage points among those outside the EU and 0.3 percentage points within the EU group. There was, however, no decline with regard to the number employed in any of the immigrant groups. We can observe a growth within all of them.

Employment rate among EU immigrants above national average

Immigrants from the Nordic countries had, as usual, the highest employment rate at 74.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010. Next to them we find immigrants from the other EU countries with rates at ca. 71 per cent. Within the other immigrant groups the employment rates were as follows: North America and Oceania; 64.1 per cent, South and Central America; 62.9 per cent, Eastern Europe outside the EU; 61.5 per cent, Asia; 53.3 per cent and Africa; 43.9 per cent. These differences in the level of employment between the country groups have been stable for several years irrespective of the economic cycles.

One of the factors behind the low employment rates among the Africans and partly the Asians is a relatively high proportion of refugees with a short period of residence in Norway within these groups, especially the African group. Many of the refugees and their reunified families are participating in introduction programmes and are thus outside the labour force during the first two years of their residence in Norway. Hence, the period of residence is of greater importance with regard to the level of employment among these immigrants than for the many labour immigrants from the EU countries who enter the labour market soon after arrival in Norway. In addition there are other factors that also influence the employment level. Among immigrants from some African and Asian countries we find very low employment rates among women compared to men, which reduce the average within these groups. This phenomenon concerns both established groups such as the Pakistani and the Turkish, and the more recently arrived immigrant groups from Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.

Greatest gap to the whole population among immigrant women

Male immigrants had an employment rate of 65.8 per cent, while the female immigrants had 57.1 per cent employment in the fourth quarter of 2010. In the population as a whole, the rates were 71.6 and 66.5 per cent respectively. Thus, the gap to the respective genders in the population as a whole was larger among immigrant women (9.4 percentage points) than it was among men (5.8 percentage points) with regard to the level of employment.

More establishments with immigrants employed

The share of establishments with at least ten employees which had at least one immigrant employed, increased from 59.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 61.5 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2010. Since the larger establishments more frequently have immigrants among their employees than the smaller ones, the share of employees who worked in establishments with at least one immigrant, is higher, i.e. 80.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010. This rate increased by 1.5 percentage points since the fourth quarter of 2009.

Norwegian-born with immigrant parents are closer to the young population as a whole

This group constitutes a rather young population, where nearly half are below 21 years of age (among those between 15 and 74 years of age), and many are likely to be students/pupils and thus not included in the labour force. However, if we look at the group of employed persons aged 20 to 24 years, the employment rate was 64.4 per cent, which is ca. 8 percentage points higher than the employment rate in the same age group among immigrants and 4.7 percentage points below the total average rate for this age group. We also see much the same differences among those aged 25 to 29 years. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, there were only marginal changes within these young population groups. It must, however, be emphasised that the Norwegian-born with immigrant parents still constitute a small group in the labour market, counting no more than 15 400 employed persons in the fourth quarter of 2010.

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