There was a decrease of 19 000 in the number of full-time employed persons from the 4th quarter of 2014 to the 4th quarter of 2015. During the same period, the number of persons working part-time increased by 19 000, mostly among young men.
From the 4th quarter of 2014 to the 4th quarter of 2015 the number of men in part-time work increased by 22 000, while there was a decrease in the number of full-time employed men. During the same period, the number of underemployed persons increased by 13 000, mostly among men, according to the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Continued drop in oil and gas extraction
The LFS shows a decrease of 11 000 employed persons in mining and quarrying, an industry dominated by oil and gas extraction. This corresponds to a decrease of 14 per cent in one year, from 4th quarter 2014 to 4th quarter 2015. There was also a decrease among full-time employed males in manufacturing.
In total for all industries, the LFS does not show any significant changes in the employment figures for last year.
More employees with temporary jobs
In the 4th quarter of 2015, 8.1 per cent of employees had a temporary job; an increase of 0.5 percentage points, or 14 000 persons, from the same quarter of 2014.
Increased unemployment among women
From the 4th quarter of 2014 to the 4th quarter of 2015 the number of unemployed persons increased by 23 000. From 2014, the unemployment has primarily increased among men, but the figures for the 4th quarter of 2015 show an increase among women too.
The average period of unemployment increased from 28.2 to 30.5 weeks last year.
Higher participation rates among young and older age groups
The labour force participation rate among youths (aged 15-24) increased by 1.5 percentage points from 2014 to 2015. Also among older people (aged 55 and more) the rate increased (0.7 percentage points). For the other groups there were only small changes in the labour participation rates.
Source: SSB / Norway Today
