Great decline in unemployment

NAV disability taxNAV logo. Photo Norway Today Media

The number of registered unemployed fell by 1,400 people from March to April according to adjusted figures from Nav.

Gross unemployment, which also includes jobseekers who participate in labour market measures, also fell by 1,400 people said Nav on Friday.

‘’Unemployment has now fallen for more than two years, and the decline continued in April.

It is in Trøndelag and among engineers and ICT employees that unemployment has fallen most in the past month’’ said Sigrun Vågeng, Director of Labour and Welfare.

Lower unemployment compared to last year

The percentage of unemployed has decreased by 0.3% over the past twelve months according to the adjusted figures. The percentage of unemployed and job seekers has also decreased by 0.3% in the same period.

At the end of April, 63,300 completely unemployed persons were registered with Nav. This corresponds to a decrease of 7,200 compared with April last year.

Unemployment accounts for 2.3% of the workforce.

‘’It’s ten years since we had it ust as low. The companies now need people. The Government wants to use the good times to include more people in working life. We know there are many who have a lot to contribute, therefore we have, among other things, initiated an inclusion day’’ said Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Anniken Hauglie of Høyre (H).

The number of unemployed was broken down and seasonally adjusted in November 2018 after Nav launched a new registration solution that contributes to a shorter time from the job seekers registering on nav.no until they enter the statistics.

79,600 available

Altogether, 79,600 people were registered as completely unemployed or as job seekers on measures at Nav – known as gros unemployment in April. This is 10,500 fewer than in April last year according to break-adjusted figures, and corresponds to 2.9% of the workforce.
Østfold, Vestfold, and Finnmark were the counties with the highest
unemployment rate in April, at 2.9% of the workforce. Unemployment was lowest in Sogn og Fjordane, with 1.5%.

Expecting interest rate adjustment

Chief analyst, Erik Bruce of Nordea Markets, believes that unemployment figures fell faster than expected.

‘’Unemployment fell in Norway at a faster pace than expected. It means that Norges Bank will set interest rates in June’’ wrote Bruce.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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