Very gender-demarcated labour market in Norway

At work.Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

Norway has a very gender-demarcated and divided labour market, according to Statistics Norway (SSB) figures. Salary differentiation between the sexes are the least in Finnmark, while gender equality in the workplace is highest in Oslo and Akershus.

 

The report from SSB is based on measurements of twelve different indicators of gender equality in the labour market. It isn’t surprising that Oslo and Akershus score the highest.

‘In the cities there are many more who work in professions and industries where there is a large degree of gender balance, where income is similar, and there are more female managers, and fewer women who work part-time,’ said senior adviser, Kristin Egge-Hoveid of SSB to Dagsavisen newspaper.

In Oslo, 40% of all leaders are women, which is the largest percentage in the country.
Akershus is in second place, with 38%. Oslo is the county where, in both the public, and private, sectors the workforce is least dominated by one gender.

In addition to Oslo and Akershus, Troms and Finnmark also score highly on many of the indicators. Finnmark, for example, has the lowest pay differential between women and men.

The reason is that the income levels for women in Finnmark county is relatively high
compared with other counties. Men from Finnmark, on the other hand, have the lowest incomes in the country, which results in a similar income to the women.

In Western Norway, gender differences are particularly high in the public sector. In Rogaland, Møre and Romsdal, and Sogn and Fjordane, almost 75% of those employed in the public sector are women.

‘In Western Norway, and most of Rogaland, we see a male-dominated oil industry, where people earn a lot of money, while the public sector is more dominated by women,’ said Egge-Hoveid.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today