The tough times in the oil industry effect businesses that provide services to the oil industry more than the oil industry itself. This is the latest figures from Statistics Norway (SSB).
Employment in the oil industry and industries that supply services to the oil industry, was reduced by 25,000 people, from 232,000 in 2013 to 207,000 in 2015, according to a report from Statistics Norway.
It is roughly equivalent to the increase in unemployment over the same period. The sharp decline has led to employment linked to the oil industry being reduced from 8.7 percent of total employment in 2013 to 7.5 percent in 2015.
In the same period employment in the oil industry decreased with around 2,500 people. This represents only 10 percent of the employment decline in all industries related to the petroleum industry.
It is namely industries that supply services to the oil industry that has lost out on most of the reduced activity in the North Sea. Measured in the number of employed, the category “other private services” is the most important. This category includes Agencies, and here the figures show that staff has been reduced by more than 10,000 people from around 90,000 employees in 2013 to just under 80,000 employees last year. Otherwise, it is particularly the shipbuilding and engineering industries which feel the decline of 62,400 employees in 2013 to 54,400, a decrease of 8,000 employees.
The oil industry is very important for Norway. Investments, intermediate consumption and labor costs constituted entire 13.3 percent of the total GDP on the mainland in 2013.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
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