The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) received 13,800 new applications for unemployment benefits last week. There hasn’t been a single week with as many applications for unemployment benefits since April of 2020.
The proportion of unemployment benefit applications due to redundancies amounted to 73%.
“We have to go back to April to find a single week where the NAV received more applications for unemployment benefits,” NAV chief Hans Christian Holte noted in a press release.
Most unemployment benefit applications were from people who worked in retail (5,300), accommodation and catering (2,200), and business services (1,100).
About two out of three unemployment benefit applications came from Oslo and Viken and should be seen in connection with the outbreak in Nordre Follo and the subsequent infection control measures.
The effects of strict anti-corona measures
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (H) noted that the government is doing everything it can to prevent the corona crisis from turning into a permanent unemployment crisis.
“Strict infection control measures and an almost closed society in the central-eastern part of the country mean that more people are laid off and unemployed. We see this clearly in the figures that came today,” he said.
On Tuesday, 207,300 completely and partially unemployed Norwegians, as well as job seekers, were registered at the NAV. That is 5,900 more than last week.
The number of job seekers is now back at the same level as at the beginning of September.
A total of 127,300 people are registered as completely unemployed at the NAV, according to preliminary figures. That constitutes 4.5% of the labor force in Norway.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayFinance
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