The oil industry is lacking workers

The oil industry is lacking skilled labour

Unemployment rates are dropping. The oil industry is struggling to find people. Now the industry is looking abroad for skilled workers, according to Nav.

 

In the oil-county of Rogaland, the economy points in the right direction once more. The unemployment rate this year is at 3.5 per cent. That is 26 per cent fewer than at the same time last year, reports the regional newspaper Rogalands Avis.

– Most economists agree that with unemployment rates between 2.5 and 3 per cent, there is a shift in the labour market. In which case you go from an excess of to a lack of available labour, says Senior Adviser in Nav Rogaland, Truls Nordahl to the newspaper.

He says that it is now beginning to be a shortage of workers in several sectors, especially related to the oil industry.

– It is not extremely critical yet, but we are hearing about growing concern among the affected companies, he says.

Looking abroad

That’s why Nav looks abroad, just as they did during the «glory days» before the oil crisis hit Rogaland in 2014.

But even though unemployment has declined in and around the oil industry, most of the new jobs are temporary.

– The companies are still in a transition phase. They do not earn enough money yet to dare to hire permanently, Nordahl concludes.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today