More than half of Norwegian teenagers applying to high schools around Norway have listed professional crafts and trades as their first choice of study. Government officials are pleased and relieved, since Norway has a shortage of everything from plumbers to construction workers and many are imported from Eastern Europe.
“If there’s one thing we really need in our society it’s competent and dedicated trades workers,” stated Education Minister Kare Nessa Nordtun of the Labour Party. “We’ve worked hard to make the professional trades more attractive.”
There’s even been concern that too many young people are going to university instead of to trade schools, where job offers can be far more abundant upon graduation. The ministry reported that the biggest increase in trades applicants this year is in the central region of Møre og Romsdal, which registered an increase in applications of 6.4 percent.
Finnmark in Northern Norway still has the highest portion of high school applicants keen on trades instead of academic work, where fully 71 percent seek education and training in the construction field.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
