Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

WORKING IN NORWAY

Everything you need to know if you’re job hunting in Norway

Navigating the job market in Norway might be pretty different from what foreigners are accustomed to in their home markets. These articles will ensure you have all the resources needed to succeed.

Published: 6 March 2024 13:44 CET
Interview
The Local's list of essential articles to support your job-hunting journey in Norway is a great place to find out how to make the most of career opportunities in this Scandinavian country. Photo by Resume Genius on Unsplash

Whether you’re a recent graduate, a seasoned professional seeking new opportunities, or an international citizen aiming to integrate into the Norwegian workforce, having the right resources at your disposal is essential.

After all, every job market is unique in its own way, and Norway is no exception due to the country’s distinct cultural and professional landscape.

READ MORE: How many foreigners are in Norway’s top one percent of earners?

Therefore, the Local’s curated list of essential articles to support your job-hunting journey in Norway is a great place to deepen your understanding of the Norwegian workplace and find out how to make the most of career opportunities in this Scandinavian country.

What you need to know about Norway’s job market

Despite Norway’s reputation for high wages, good working conditions, and a solid work-life balance, factors such as gender and nationality are connected to wage disparities between Norwegians and foreigners, particularly in certain professional fields.

READ ALSO: Is there a gender wage gap in Norway?

People relocating to Norway for work often face lower wages than their Norwegian counterparts. For the most up-to-date figures, check out The Local’s overview of the issue.

Furthermore, there is also a dark side to working in Norway. Rogue firms who actively try to bend the rules can exploit workers – especially international citizens – in several ways. Here’s what you need to watch out for in such situations.

READ MORE: How foreign workers can be exploited in the Norwegian labour market

On a related note, newcomers to Norway should also be aware of social dumping and “lufting”.

While the former encompasses various illegal work practices that lead to poor pay and working conditions for foreign workers, the latter is a legal practice that exploits loopholes to avoid providing permanent positions or benefits to certain workers.

Considering these issues, it’s always a good idea to read up on Norway’s union system and the worker protection it provides.

READ MORE: What foreign residents in Norway should know about workers’ unions

Wages in Norway: What to expect

The allure of high wages attracts many workers to Norway each year (despite the recent debate on whether Norway is still an attractive country for foreign workers). This isn’t surprising, considering the average monthly salary in Norway is 48,750 kroner before tax, according to Statistics Norway (SSB).

However, many people are surprised to learn that there is no official general minimum wage in the country and that wages tend to be set through negotiations between trade unions and individual employers or employer organisations. Furthermore, non-union members need to negotiate their own wages.

To find out how minimum wages – and associated negotiations – in the country work, have a look at our breakdown of the issue which includes a list of the industries with a minimum hourly wage, here.

READ MORE: Could a long period of stagnant real wages in Norway be about to end?

Laptop

Embarking on a job search in Norway requires thorough preparation. Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Most workers in Norway are automatically entitled to overtime if they work over their hours. Here’s what you need to know about the overtime system in Norway.

If you want to know more about how much workers in Norway’s highest-paying sectors take home each month or how much money you need to earn for a good life in the country, we’ve got you covered, too.

Are you worried about Norway’s reputation for having high taxes? In this comprehensive overview, we examine the actual tax burden.

Looking for a job: The essentials

Job searching in Norway demands a strategic approach. With high wages and solid job security, Norway attracts numerous foreign workers annually, many of whom end up settling in the country long-term.

Whether you’ve just arrived, are transitioning between jobs, or are seeking new challenges, several essential steps can streamline your job hunt.

In this deep-dive article, we’ve gathered all these steps, from registering with the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) and the police to finding suitable job listings.

Once administrative matters are addressed, it will be time to polish your CV and conduct thorough research. Adapting your CV to Norwegian standards (which we cover in more detail here), including language proficiency and cultural nuances, can significantly enhance your appeal to potential employers.

It is also advisable to leverage online resources and use templates tailored to Norwegian job applications.

The Local has also compiled a list of six tips to help you improve your odds of landing a job, which can be helpful, especially if your occupation is in low demand.

Furthermore, volunteering serves as a gateway to integration in Norway (and, at times, job opportunities), and nearly two-thirds of the population actively contributes their time to various causes each year. Here’s where you can discover a volunteering opportunity that aligns with your interests and goals.

If you fall into the category of people wishing to move to Norway for work requiring a residence permit for skilled workers, you’ll need to read up on what happens if your qualifications don’t align with your job offer.

The Local Norway also has a page featuring jobs and opportunities across Norway, which you can consult here.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
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. 

SHOW COMMENTS