Bosses often baffle foreign workers

Results of a new international employment survey show that workers in Norway generally enjoy their jobs but their bosses score low for failing to give clear instructions or constructive feedback. Foreign workers in Norway are especially baffled by bosses who don’t behave like most bosses in other countries. “I think Norway has the most unusual [...]

Few firms willing to hire foreigners

American, Australian, Indian and other foreign workers have little chance of landing good jobs with Norwegian companies, no matter how educated or qualified they are, according to a new survey. Its results show that Norwegian employers prefer to hire Norwegian employees, even when faced with a labour shortage in the Norwegian market and even when [...]

New labour boss makes history

The election of Gerd Kristiansen as the new boss of Norway’s largest trade union federation LO means that the country’s two most powerful positions in the business and labour sectors are now held by women. Given poll results leading into the next national elections, Norway’s next prime minister, finance minister and foreign minister may be [...]

Oil industry claims huge number of jobs

Norway’s oil industry claims it’s responsible for far more jobs than state analysts have given it credit for. A new report from the industry itself claims it provides fully a quarter-million Norwegians with full-time employment. The report from industry association Norsk olje og gass (formerly known as the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, OLF), released at [...]

Norwegian firms called ‘racist’

A leading Norwegian headhunter who recruits engineers and other skilled workers for Norwegian oil and oil-service companies says he’s encountered a “shocking” degree of what he calls blatant “racism” among prospective Norwegian employers. Even those in dire need of engineers and other specialists routinely turn down top foreign job candidates. They want Norwegians instead. Erik [...]

Swedes paid to seek work in Norway

Young, unemployed Swedes are getting some financial assistance from their home communities to seek their fortunes in Norway, where the jobless rate remains low and many employers are eager to hire fellow Scandinavians. Sveriges Radio reported this week that the Swedish city of Söderhamn, about 250 kilometers north of Stockholm, is helping pay for its [...]

Immigrant employment ‘misleading’

Human Rights Service (HRS), an Oslo-based foundation that studies immigration and integration, is accusing the Norwegian government of presenting a misleading picture of immigrant employment levels in Norway. HRS claims that full-time employment among those from countries outside western Europe and North America is much lower than officially portrayed. Only 57 percent of those described [...]

Most new jobs go to immigrants

Nearly 50,000 new jobs have been created in Norway during the past year and more than 35,000 of them have been filled by immigrants. The numbers, revealed when the government proposed its new state budget this week, show how much Norway now relies on what Finance Minster Sigbjørn Johnsen calls the “arbeidsinnvandrere” (literally, job immigrants) [...]

Guest workers pay off in Norway

The Norwegian state profits from guest workers who pay considerably more in taxes than what they claim in benefits, according to recent research by state statistics bureau SSB. Immigrants, however, join average Norwegians in pulling more money from the public purse than they put into it. Newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) has reported that taxes of about [...]

Media workers face huge cuts

More uncertainty was gripping employees of Norwegian media firm Schibsted on Thursday as it planned to slash jobs, consolidate some editorial operations among several of its newspapers and even move its flagship Aftenposten into the offices of another Schibsted paper in Oslo, Verdens Gang (VG). It’s the latest in a string of cost-cutting that reflects both [...]

Norwegian parents ‘spoil’ their kids

Young Norwegians are so privileged and demanding that relatively few have been working in hotels, restaurants, fish factories or warehouses this summer. Frustrated Norwegian employers claim they simply can’t find Norwegian youth willing to take such traditional summer jobs. “Whether it’s because the jobs aren’t ‘fine’ enough, or don’t pay enough is difficult to say,” [...]

Norwegian workers work a lot

Most Norwegians enjoy relatively short workdays, at least five paid weeks of holiday a year and generous provisions for paid leave because of illness, family issues or professional training and education. Nonetheless, a new survey shows they’re among those working more than most of their counterparts in Europe. The new survey was conducted in Denmark [...]

Disability claims rise

One out of every 10 Norwegian workers is off on disability leave, according to new figures from state welfare agency NAV. A total of 311,200 persons were receiving disability payments at the end of March. That’s up by 8,800 persons from the same time last year, and amounts to an increase of 2.9 percent. The total [...]