Unemployment at 4.8 per cent

OsloOslo.Photo Norway Today Media

There were 134 000 unemployed persons in January, adjusted for seasonal variations. This corresponds to 4.8 per cent of the labour force.

According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the seasonally-adjusted number of unemployed persons increased by 5 000 from October 2015 (average of September–November) to January 2016 (average of December–February). The change is within the LFS error margin, but still in line with a gradual increase since May 2014 when the unemployment rate was 3.2 per cent. Since then, the seasonally-adjusted number of unemployed persons has increased by 47 000. The LFS shows that among these, 31 000 were over the age of 24.

The number of people registered as unemployed or on government initiatives to promote employment with the Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) increased by 2 000 from October 2015 to January 2016. This figure is also based on seasonally-adjusted figures and three-month averages.

Since the last release, the unemployment rate for December 2015 (average of November–January) has been adjusted from 4.5 to 4.6 per cent. These kinds of adjustments are normal since the whole time series is seasonally adjusted every month.

Small changes in employment
The LFS shows that the seasonally-adjusted number of employed persons increased by 7 000 from October 2015 to January 2016, a change within the error margin. Taking the LFS error margin into account, the number of employed persons has remained unchanged throughout the last year. However, since the population aged 15–74 years has increased in the same period, there has been a decrease in the employment rate. From January 2015 to January 2016, the employment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 67.8 per cent.

 

Source: SSB / Norway Today