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WORKING IN NORWAY

NEW FIGURES: What do Norway’s most in-demand professions pay?

Norway needs tens of thousands of workers, with some professions in high demand. So how much do these jobs pay? 

Published: 1 March 2023 16:18 CET
Updated: 11 May 2023 16:25 CEST
Pictured are office workers.
Why movers to Switzerland always ask about wages. Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash)

Employers in Norway are still faced with a shortage of workers across a number of sectors, the latest survey carried out by the Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) shows. 

In total, Norway lacks around 53,000 workers, according to a survey of firms in Norway. One in four businesses told NAV that they were experiencing recruitment problems. 

READ ALSO: Which professions are most in need in 2023?

NAV pointed to a number of occupations which were particularly in demand. Some of these, such as teachers and healthcare workers, have long suffered staffing shortages. Meanwhile, NAV’s latest figures also showed growing demand for other lines of work, such as cooks. 

The jobs range from ones which require excellent knowledge of the Norwegian language and a degree or qualifications obtained in Norway to careers in which you don’t need a university education or fluency in Norwegian. 

The biggest labour shortfall was for health and care services, with a shortage of around 13,000 workers. In addition, some roles in the healthcare sector are hard to secure for foreign nationals as they typically require very high Norwegian proficiency and to have your qualifications approved before you are cleared to work in Norway. 

Figures from the national data agency Statistics Norway show that nurses in Norway made an average monthly salary of 51,020 kroner a month in 2022. Specialist Nurses made around 10 per cent more, taking home 56,940 kroner per month. 

Primary school teachers, who have also been featured in previous NAV reports on labour shortfalls, take home an average of 47,350 kroner each month. 

NAV’s figures also found that there is a shortage of cooks in Norway. Generally, working as a cook in Norway will require either a previous work history in kitchens or qualifications or a combination. 

Many kitchens may use English as the primary working language due to the number of foreigners working in the Norwegian hospitality sector. Figures show that cooks make an average of 37,990 kroner per month. However, this doesn’t include tips, which are commonly shared among all restaurant staff in Norway but are taxed. 

 Those with a craft are also in demand in Norway. Tradesmen in Norway, on average, earned a wage of 43,930 kroner each month. However, the salary available to craftsmen varied depending on their job. Electricians were the highest-earning craftsmen, making around 47,060 kroner on average. Painters were the lowest-paid craftsmen, earning around 41,000 kroner per month. 

Typically to work as a tradesman in Norway, you will need to have obtained qualifications comparable to the Norwegian equivalent. Trades involved in construction usually require a strong grasp of English; some jobs will also require Norwegian. 

Shop and sales workers were another industry in demand, according to NAV. Sales professionals in Norway made an average of 39,140 kroner per month in 2022. Those who worked in stores and ticket booths made a similar amount of money per month, while those who worked in markets made an average of 54,450 kroner per month. As the job involves dealing with the public, conversational Norwegian is typically required. 

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For members

WORKING IN NORWAY

Why overqualified foreigners in Norway struggle to find work

Norway is one of the worst countries in Europe when it comes to overqualified foreign labour being stuck in jobs that don’t make the best use of their skills, a new analysis has found. 

Published: 23 April 2024 11:38 CEST
Why overqualified foreigners in Norway struggle to find work

Norway is one of many European countries struggling with “brain waste”, which is where immigrants struggle to find suitable full-time work or are overqualified for their roles due to their education not being recognised. 

The findings are part of an investigation by Lighthouse Reports, the Financial Times, El País and Unbias The News that found that most European countries fail to provide good job opportunities to educated foreigners – potentially at the cost of their labour forces and economies. 

“While the results differ slightly between labour market outcomes, a consistent pattern emerges: immigrants lag behind natives everywhere, but brain waste is worst in Southern Europe, Norway, and Sweden,” the report read. 

Some of the metrics used to measure brain waste were the proportion of foreign residents who were overqualified for their role, underemployed (meaning they weren’t working as much as they could), or unemployed. 

In Norway, 27.6 percent of university-educated Norwegians were overqualified for their roles, according to the report. Meanwhile, just over half of the university-educated immigrant population were overqualified for their job. 

This figure made Norway one of the countries with the largest raw difference in the percentage of the native population being overqualified compared to the immigrant population. 

Furthermore, the number of immigrants who were underemployed, 3.9 percent, was more than double the rate of Norwegians in the same position. 

The investigation used figures from Eurostat between 2017 and 2022. 

Norway’s Directorate of Integration and Diversity has recently investigated the obstacles facing the country’s foreign population in the workplace. 

Its report found that immigrants faced barriers both when trying to progress their careers or simply trying to get their foot in the door. 

Immigrants working in Norway were also more likely to leave working life earlier or lose their jobs. 

READ ALSO: The biggest barriers foreigners in Norway face at work

Factors such as working in temp positions, physically taxing occupations, and industries exposed to economic turbulence contributed to this. 

However, a lack of Norwegian proficiency, a lack of relevant skills and poor health also played a part. 

Discrimination prevented immigrants from entering the workplace and affected those who were employed. 

“More and more people in the population have contact with immigrants in working life, and most experience that contact as mainly positive. At the same time, one in four immigrants has experienced discrimination in the workplace, and this discrimination can occur in different forms and in different working situations,” the report read.

The directorate also said that most companies didn’t have concrete measures to try and promote diversity.

One factor holding back immigrants in Norway was their Norwegian language skills, the report said. 

While Norwegian skills were moving in the right direction, less than half of foreigners in the country had advanced Norwegian language skills (level B2 according to the European framework) after completing language training.

Meanwhile, Lighthouse Reports’ investigation found that brain waste in Norway varied from profession to profession. For example, Norway was one of a number of countries where college-educated immigrants were more likely to be doctors. 

Immigrants with a university education in IT-related subjects were also far less likely to be overqualified. There, the difference between migrants being overqualified compared to natives was just 2 percent. 

However, physical and engineering science technicians, engineering professionals (excluding electrotechnology), and those who have studied education at a university level were the immigrant groups in Norway most likely to be overqualified. 

One thing to note is that immigrants who obtained their qualifications in Norway were far less likely to be overqualified than those who got their degrees outside of Norway, even if they still fared worse than natives overall. 

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