At the end of July, almost 357,000 people were registered with the Employment Service. That is nearly 27,000 more than the same period last year.
Unemployment has thus increased from 6.3 percent to 6.8 percent in one year.
– The labor market is still weak, continues Eva Samakovli, director of analysis at Arbetsförmedlingen.
In June, the number of notices decreased, but now it has turned up again.
In July, roughly 4,900 people were notified of redundancy. The corresponding figure a year ago was just under 3,500 people. Among other things, it is within the manufacturing industry, trade and construction that most people have been notified.
There were also significantly fewer jobs to apply for at the Employment Agency, compared to a year ago. In July, there were roughly 64,000 newly registered jobs, which is approximately 37,000 fewer, compared to the same period last year.
Highest in ten years
The number of long-term unemployed, i.e. people who have been out of work for a year or more, continues to increase. It amounted to nearly 142,000 people in July, which is an increase of approximately 5,000 people in one year.
– If you ignore the pandemic, unemployment is about to be the highest in a decade, said Labor Market Minister Johan Pehrson at a press conference last week.
And the government believes that the situation could worsen further. This is consistent with the Arbetsförmedlingen forecast.
– Unemployment will rise this autumn, but the labor market will recover as the economy strengthens, says Eva Samakovlis.
– According to our assessment, it will take place at the end of the year and at the beginning of next year. But then recovery takes time.
The government measures unemployment according to labor force surveys (LFS), which are based on surveys from Statistics Norway (SCB). Unlike Arbetsförmedlingen, which counts the number of people enrolled at Arbetsförmedlingen.
The government reported last week that unemployment was at 8.3 percent in the second quarter and they expect it to rise to 8.4 percent before falling. To then remain at a continued high level during the next year.