Unemployment in Norway rose by 300 people to 77,800 in October, according to seasonally adjusted figures from Nav.
– After several months of decline, there was a slight increase in unemployment in October, said the Labor and Welfare Director Sigrun Vågeng.
In addition to 77,822 unemployed, 19,327 were registered job seekers in the labor market. The sum of the unemployed and job seekers who attend measures also increased by 300 people in October.
Unemployment was at 2.8 percent at the end of October, down from 2.9 percent in October last year.
The increase was greatest in More and Romsdal and Oslo, followed by Rogaland, Vestfold and Finnmark. Telemark and Nord-Trøndelag had the greatest decrease in unemployment over the past year.
Prediction of fall in unemployment
Unemployment is highest in Rogaland with 4.4 percent and in Aust-Agder with 3.4 percent. Sogn and Fjordane and Oppland have the lowest unemployment rate with 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
– The overall picture is that the labor market has stabilized in 2016, partly because the unemployment rate which increased in the oil industry has been offset by lower unemployment in the construction industry.
We expect that we will go into a moderate upturn next year and that unemployment will fall over the next two years, said Labor and Welfare Director Sigrun Vågeng.
Unemployment has declined most in construction work over the past year, with a decline of 15 percent. Within the engineering and ICT subjects, unemployment has risen by 21 percent over the same period.
– The toughest part is over.
– Several forecasts now suggest that we are in the process of leaving the toughest times of unemployment increase behind us, says Labour and Social Affairs Anniken Hauglie.
– Unemployment is stabilizing. This is positive, but we need to keep the pace to get more people into work.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today