The increased demand for labour since the middle of 2021 contributed to the unemployment rate falling below pre-pandemic levels at the start of 2022 reaching a low of 3.1% in the spring 2022. Since then, unemployment has risen and now stands at 3.6%, still below pre-pandemic levels. In the recent months, unemployment has remained stable.
Lower unemployment than in most other countries
Unemployment has fallen in most European countries during 2021 and 2022 and is currently around 6% on average in the EU, according to the latest data from Eurostat. This is a decrease from the pandemic peak of nearly 8% reached in autumn 2020.
Norway has traditionally had one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, with the latest internationally comparable data showing that despite recent increases Norway still has a significantly lower unemployment rate than other Scandinavian and European countries and the EU average.
While youth unemployment in Norway is also low compared to other countries, it is much closer to the EU average than the unemployment rate for the overall population.
About the data
Data on unemployment are from Statistics Norway “Labour Force Survey“.
International data on unemployment are from Eurostat.