In early 2000s, the number of people employed in the call center industry was predicted to increase to 100,000. Now there are only 4.000 left.
– Within five years, around 100,000 Norwegians will be employed at various call centers, Norwegian Direct Marketing Association predicted in 2002, the newspaper Aftenposten reports.
Due to a lack of figures, it is difficult to determine the exact difference, but one Fafo survey from 2005 shows that the major players have significantly fewer employees now than eleven years ago.
– There are many examples of regional places of work in Norway being closed down and call centers being established abroad instead, Manager of Work, Stein Johnsen, says.
Work, which organizes the call center industry, believes that there is great potential to create new call center jobs in Norway. Johnsen believes that the Civil Service should outsource some of its services to call centers, in order to offer more jobs.
A large proportion of those employed by this industry are young and unskilled people , many of them living in rural areas. It also provides quick training and qualifications, Johnsen says.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
