Decreased labour force participation

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In the 3rd quarter of 2020, the labour force participation rate for the population 15-74 years was 70.9 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points from the same quarter the previous year. There was a stronger decrease in the labour force among men than women.

Written by: Erik Horgen

The decrease in the number of persons in the labour force was very small from the 3rd quarter of 2019 to the same quarter of 2020. However, as there was a growth in the population during the same period, the share of people in the labour force decreased. During this period, there were very large changes in the two groups the labour force consists of; employed and unemployed persons. As shown in the figure, the number of employed persons decreased, and the number of unemployed persons increased from the 3rd quarter of 2019 to the same quarter of 2020. This is related to the corona crisis.

Figure 1. Change in number (1 000) of persons aged 15-74 from the 3rd quarter of 2019 to the 3rd quarter of 2020, by labour market status

Change
Persons, total 17
Labour force, total -5
Employed -49
Unemployed 44
Persons outside of the labour force 23

The number of unemployed persons increased from 109 000 in the 3rd quarter of 2019 to 153 000 in the same quarter of 2020. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent, which is relatively high in a Norwegian context. There was a stronger increase among men than women.

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