Solberg: ‘many new jobs are being created’

Oslo.Prime Minister Erna Solberg.Photo: Mariam Butt / NTB scanpix

This August, NAV counted 1,400 fewer people to be unemployed. The percentage of unemployed is now 2.7 per cent of the workforce.

 

According to the seasonal report of NAV, this is the ninth month in a row where the unemployment has lowered. Included in these measurements is the gross unemployment, which has dropped with 9.300 people and now account for 3.2 percent of the workforce.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg is pleased that the unemployment has dropped and will continue to drop. “I am pleased to hear that the unemployment in Norway is dropping, also among the young people”, Solberg says, while adding that the figures show that the government’s policy has worked.

According to the Prime Minister, the picture of the Norwegian economy and the government’s policy, drawn by the Labor Party (Arbeiderspartiet), did not match.

The decline is stronger than expected before summer, but figures show that the growth is strong in the Norwegian economy, says Solberg. The GDP of Fastlands-Norge increased with 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, according to seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Norway in August.

Unemployment will drop even more
“August is the ninth month in a row with a decline in registered unemployment. Growth in the Norwegian economy has risen in the first half of this year, and we expect unemployment to continue to drop even more”, says director of Labor and Welfare, Sigrun Vågeng.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Anniken Hauglie, the labor market is rapidly improving. “The unemployment rate after the oil price shock is definitely behind us, and the positive trend we have had in the labor market through 2017 continues,” says Hauglie.

More available jobs
Haugly argues that the unemployment will drop down practically throughout the whole country and in almost all industries. “And as the prime minister says, it is particularly pleasing that unemployment is falling among the young people. The decline is 18 per cent.

We also see that more vacancies are reported to NAV, and that layoffs are halved, which means more people get out of work,” concludes Hauglie.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today