Between 1990 and 2023, 76 000 individuals from non-EEA countries immigrated to Norway for work. As of 1 January 2024, 52 per cent of them were still residing in the country, with the largest groups coming from the United Kingdom, India, Serbia and the United States.

In total, 31 000 family members of labour immigrants from non-EEA countries immigrated to Norway during the same period. Of these, 57 per cent remained resident as of 1 January 2024. This corresponds to an average of 0.44 family members per resident labour immigrant from a non-EEA country. Women make up most of this group, accounting for 70 per cent. The family members held citizenships from over 150 countries, with the largest numbers coming from India, Serbia, the Philippines, China and Russia.

Labour migrants and their family members from countries outside the EEA are highly educated - around 3 out of 4 aged 25-66 have an education at university or college level. Labour migrants are more likely to have completed tertiary education than their family members. Young family members of labour migrants from countries outside the EEA are also doing well in primary and secondary school. 9 out of 10 who started upper secondary education for the first time in 2017/2018 completed the education.

Labour immigrants from countries outside the EEA had an employment rate of 83 per cent, which was the highest rate of all groups and 3 percentage points above the corresponding rate of the population excluding immigrants. More than 62 per cent of the employed had academic or college occupations. This share was twice as high as the corresponding share among immigrants in total and 14 percentage points higher than the share among the non-immigrant population. The most common occupation groups are such as realists and civil engineers, ICT advisors, engineers, etc. and teaching professions. These occupation groups engage 43 per cent of the non-EEA labour immigrants.

Labour immigrants from countries outside the EEA had the highest average monthly earnings of NOK 66 210 in the fourth quarter of 2023. They earned about 12 percent more than both immigrants from EU countries before 2004 and the non-immigration population. The wage level for labour immigrants outside the EEA is related to their high level of education. This contributes to their overrepresentation in occupations and industries with higher wages, regardless of immigrant background.

Non-EEA labour immigrants often have high household incomes and their income level increases with the length of residence in Norway. Income from employment is the main source of livelihood, and there is relatively little use of various welfare schemes. Several countries have an over­representation of labour immigrants at the top of the income distribution, but there are large variations in the proportion with persistent low income. Among those with a short time of residence, we find a high risk of persistent low income in all groups, and far higher than in the whole same-age population without an immigrant background. With increased length of residence, the proportion with persistent low income falls significantly in most groups.