Norway still has a low unemployment rate, compared to most other countries, but it rose in March to a level that an economist at DNB Markets said was the highest since December 2005. Around 100,000 persons in Norway were out of work in March.
State statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway) reported Monday that the number of unemployed persons at the end of the first quarter equated to an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent. That compared to an expected rate of 3.5 percent, reported TDN Finans.
Economist Ole André Kjennerud at DNB Markets wrote in a commentary that the new jobless numbers “can indicate that the probability that Norges Bank (the central bank) will cut interest rate has increased somewhat, but we maintain that rates will remain unchanged.” Website dn.no reported that Kjennerud called the new unemployment rate the highest since the end of 2005, well before the global finance crisis hit.
SSB reported that the total number of persons employed in Norway actually increased by 2,000, to 2,595,000. There were around 4,000 more persons unemployed and looking for work in March than there were in December, however.
newsinenglish.no staff
