547 000 employed in local authorities

Norway TodayPicture from Bærum city.Photo Norway Today Media

Preliminary figures show a total of 498 000 employees in local authorities and 49 000 in county authorities. A new data source has led to a break in the time series.

Compared to the 4th quarter of 2014, the figures show a 5.9 per cent rise in employed persons. The growth in the number of employees is mainly related to the change of data source. Published figures from the quarterly national accounts (QNA) for the 4th quarter of 2015 show a growth in employees in local government of 1.7 per cent compared to the 4th quarter of 2014.

Compared to 2014, the new data source for register-based statistics shows small changes in the distribution of employees between the municipal activities. Health and care services, an area where employees traditionally have various small jobs, are therefore more affected by the change of data source than other municipal activities.

Compared to the QNA, the level of employed persons is about 21 000 higher in register-based statistics. The main reason for this is that QNA only counts main jobs while register-based statistics also count all second jobs related to municipal activities.

 

Source: SSB / Norway Today