Norway’ state statistics bureau SSB (Statistics Norway) had some more sobering economic news this week, when it announced that its calculations showed a rise in the country’s unemployment rate. An additional 17,000 people joined the ranks of the unemployed in July, bringing the total number of those without jobs to 109,000.
That amounts to 3.8 percent of the work force, adjusted for seasonal variation. The rate was up by a percentage point of 0.6 since April. Around 8,000 more people found jobs and were employed during the April to July period, while the workforce grew by 25,000.
Norway’s jobless rates remains relatively low compared to many other countries but the rise was unexpected, according to SSB. The jobless rate was higher than analysts had predicted, and marked more negative economic news after several announcements of pending layoffs at some major Norwegian companies.
newsinenglish.no staff
