Advertisement

Norway jobless at nine-year high: report

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Norway jobless at nine-year high: report
A Nav unemployment centre in Tøyen, an area of Oslo with a high proportion of immigrants. Foto: © Svein Nordrum / NTB scanpix

Norway’s unemployment rate has hit a nine-year high on the back of the downturn in the oil industry, with 4.2 percent of the workforce without jobs, Statistics Norway has reported.

Advertisement

The downbeat numbers were picked up on by Norway’s Labour Party which accused Norway’s right-wing coalition of not taking strong enough action to stimulate the economy into creating more jobs. 
 
“Experience shows us that an increase in unemployment has a self-reinforcing power if it is not stopped,” Dag Terje Andersen, the Labour party’s spokesman on employment issues, told NTB. “This has been ignored by the government, which in fact has stated that they will not take action until the unemployment rate increases.” 
 
According to Statistics Norway, the number of unemployed increased to 117,000 in January to April this year, 7,000 more than in the previous three months. 
 
Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that the challenges faced by the Norwegian economy were greater than expected and pledged to take more actions to increase the number of jobs in the budget next year. 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also