Nav: – Unemployment will continue to increase

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Anniken Hauglie ( Conservative Party )Oslo.Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Anniken Hauglie ( Conservative Party ). Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

Nav thinks unemployment will continue to increase, although the number of people who lost their jobs last year were less than expected. The challenges of the  labor market are the greatest  in Southern and Western Norway.

Unemployment has in one year increased by 58 percent within the fields of engineering and IT, according to new figures from the Nav. Still, the overall unemployment has risen less than expected.
At the end of February, 90,900 registered as unemployed with the Nav. This is an increase of 9,400 persons compared with February last year, and represents 3.3 percent of the workforce.
– Often there is little fluctuation in unemployment figures from month to month, and we still think that unemployment rates will continue to increase during the year, said Labor and Welfare Director Sigrun Vågeng.
– Unemployment has risen less than expected, but we still need to keep up the pace in order to create more new jobs, she said in a press release.
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs anniken hauglie points out that the greatest challenges are in Southern and Western Norway, while there still is demand for labor in other parts of the country.
– An important task now is to get the unemployed people to find the jobs that are available, says the Minister.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today