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Norway’s labour shortage: Which professions are most in need in 2023?

While the shortage of workers in Norway has decreased from 2022 to 2023, the country's economy still needs tens of thousands of workers – especially in some professions.

Published: 9 May 2023 10:55 CEST
Worker
According to a new survey, approximately one in four businesses in Norway reported facing difficulties with recruitment, with 26 percent indicating that they had encountered challenges in acquiring labour within the last three months. Photo by Marianna Krzakiewicz on Unsplash

Businesses in Norway are still faced with a shortage of workers. According to the latest survey among companies carried out by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), some 53,000 workers are needed.

The shortage is most significant in health and care services, but there are also far too few craft and industrial workers.

“Although the estimated shortage of qualified labour is significantly lower this year, it is still very high. With the exception of 2022 and 2019, we have to go back to 2008 to find a higher level,” NAV chief Hans Christian Holte said on Monday.

The shortage of workers has decreased throughout the country compared to last year, with the exception of Troms og Finnmark.

Measured in absolute numbers, the labour shortage is greatest in Oslo, followed by Øst-Viken.

One in four businesses said they experience recruitment problems – 26 percent responded that they had had problems getting labour in the last three months.

Furthermore, many companies replied that they could not hire anyone, while others ended up hiring workers with lower or different formal skills than they were looking for.

In-demand professions in 2023

According to the NAV survey, the occupational groups with the most significant labour shortage include:

  • Nurses, health professionals, social workers, and other health workers
  • Store and sales staff
  • Cooks
  • Carpenters, plumbers, and electricians
  • Primary school teachers

The greatest labour shortage is present within health and care services, where employers report a shortage of around 13,000 workers.

While the shortage of labour in the construction industry has fallen sharply, from 13,700 people last year to 7,600 people in 2023, it is still the industry with the second largest labour shortage in Norway, the NAV points out.

Lower optimism when it comes to new hires

On the other hand, the optimism related to new hires and expansion among Norwegian companies in the year ahead is also weaker than last year.

This year, the net share of businesses that expect growth in employment in the coming year is 13 percent – a decrease from 22 percent last year and the lowest level since 2016.

Some 25 percent of Norwegian businesses expect to increase staffing in the coming year, while 11 percent expect a reduction.

At the same time, 64 percent think the staffing situation will remain the same.

The decline in expected new hires is greatest in accommodation, construction, and information and communication services.

Demand for qualified labour to increase

According to the NAV’s new global analysis, the need for qualified labour will continue to increase in the coming years.

The analysis also highlights global uncertainty and the risk of increased income differences.

“Considering the great need for skilled workers, greater provision must be made for workers to receive the training they need in the workplace. The education sector, the NAV, and employers must work together to find good solutions,” Holte said.

The NAV business survey was conducted from January 30th to March 17th among a representative sample of all the country’s public and private enterprises.

Almost 11,000 businesses took part in this year’s survey.

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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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