More employed, fewer jobless

Employment increased by 59,000 in Norway over the past year, while the number of jobless dropped by 17,000. There were 100,000 unemployed in first quarter 1997. They accounted for 4.4 per cent of the workforce, against 5.3 per cent in the same quarter last year, new statistics from Statistics Norway's Labour Force Survey (LFS) show.

The percentage of the population who are economically active (persons 16 to 74 years of age) totalled 71.5 per cent in the first quarter of 1997, against 70.1 per cent in the same quarter last year. Labour force participation increased by 1.6 percentage points for women and 0.7 for men. The increase applied to all age groups with the exception of people over the age of 66. The greatest increase was seen among people under 30.

Employment rose in most industries. The greatest growth was in manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade, although health and social services, public administration, and building and construction also saw substantial growth. On the other hand, employment in the primary industries declined.

Unemployment among men declines

According to the LFS, unemployment declined by 15,000 among men and 3,000 among women from first quarter 1996 to the same period this year. Joblessness dropped from 5.5 to 4.3 per cent for men and from 5.0 to 4.6 per cent for women. The largest difference was registered among young people aged 16 to 24. Although unemployment was unchanged among women in this age group, the decline among men was four per cent.

Higher sickness absence among women

In the first quarter of 1997, 76,000 were home sick the entire week of the survey. This is 8,000 more compared to the same time in 1996. The sickness absence rate was 4.5 per cent for women and 2.8 per cent for men, an increase from the previous year of 0.6 percentage point for women and 0.1 percentage point for men.

New Statistics

Labour Force Survey, 1st quarter 1997.
Statistics are published every quarter in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. Detailed figures are published in basic tables from the Labour Force Survey. More information: Ole Sandvik, tel. +47 21 09 45 77, e-mail: osa@ssb.no or Inger Håland, tel. +47 21 09 47 80, e-mail: iha@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 19, 1997