The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) economists say tax cuts the government have imposed since 2013 could have created 27,600 jobs.
Economists have used computational models from Statistics Norway (SSB) to calculate how many jobs could be created through increased public spending, wrote VG newspaper.
‘This shows that the 25 billions that the Solberg government has given as tax cuts since 2013, would have provided 27,600 jobs if the money had been used instead to create new employment’, says LO’s deputy, Hans-Christian Gabrielsen.
He is worried that few jobs have been created under the current government, and believes there is strong, proven evidence that in times of crisis, there is a greater effect from spending money directly on job creation, rather than giving tax cuts.
Secretary, Cecilie Brein-Karlsen of Fremskrittspartiet (FrP), in the Ministry of Finance, responded that the government cuts taxes to make it more profitable to invest and create new jobs.
‘This is important for the success of the restructuring of the Norwegian economy. In our governmental period there have been jobs created each year, despite the largest oil price fall in 30 years’, she wrote in an email to the newspaper.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
