3,300 fewer employees in the retail trade

An additional 23,500 people entered the workforce during the past year, and growth was strongest in Oslo. But in the retail trade, the number of employees has gone down.

The discussion about store death and change in consumer habits has been a topic for a long time. In the retail trade, there were 3,300 fewer employees in the fourth quarter of 2019 than at the same time the year before. This represents a decrease of 1 per cent, figures from Statistics Norway show.

Business services, and transport and storage also have fewer people – a decrease of 1 and 0.5 per cent respectively.

The industries with the greatest relative success were mining and extraction (8 per cent) and information and communication (5 per cent).

Total job growth of 0.9 per cent
The number of employees in Oslo increased by 1.9 per cent during the year, and thus the strongest job growth in the country took place in the capital.

Nationwide, 23,500 people found employment during this period, which is a growth of 0.9 per cent.

In Oslo, women accounted for most of the increase. This is reflected in the fact that the municipal sector, where many women work, had the greatest growth.

In addition to Oslo, Akershus also saw good growth in employment, with an increase of 1.5 per cent.

More vacancies
At the same time, an overview from Finn shows that 242,000 positions were announced last year, up 3 per cent from the previous year.

“There is growth and so far good prospects for the Norwegian economy. The numbers and growth in 2019 are not unlike the patterns we saw at the previous economic peak, so our forecast is that development will now level off somewhat,” says Christopher Ringvold, job analyst and product director for Finn job.

Growth is solid in the commodity-driven industries, the overview shows. Maritime and offshore saw 51 per cent growth last year compared to the previous year.

“The 2019 figures show that we still have a commodity-driven economy. As a result, industries such as oil, gas, shipbuilding and fisheries continue to grow,” says Ringvold.

Need for digital expertise
Otherwise, digital expertise is increasingly in demand. The public sector wants this three times as much as the private sector.

“There is a major change in the public sector, hence the demand for more digital expertise. We have seen this for some years now, and it will still be in demand in the years to come,” says Finn’s job analyst.

Most full-time jobs in Rogaland and Oslo
Rogaland is the county where most men work full time (85 per cent), followed by Oslo (84 per cent), according to Statistics Norway. At the same time, Oslo has the highest proportion of women in full-time positions (74 per cent).

Geographically, there is a big difference between how many men versus how many women work full time. In Oslo, the difference is about 10 percentage points, while in Vest-Agder, 30 percentage points are the difference.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today