Registered unemployed among immigrants (discontinued in Statistics Norway), Q1 2015

The number of registered unemployed immigrants increased by almost 2 000 during this period. On the other hand, the number of participants on ordinary labour market schemes declined by about 2 400. Hence, the unemployed and participants combined had a decrease of approximately 400 during the period. When these numbers are calculated as a share of the labour force, we can also see a decline, at 0.5 percentage points.

In total, 81 500 people were registered as unemployed in the 1st quarter of 2015. Of these, 31 200 were immigrants, which is a share of 38 per cent of the total unemployed. The increase in the number of unemployed immigrants occurred mainly among immigrants from the EU countries in Eastern Europe. Of the total growth of 2 000, this group constituted 1 700, and were mostly men.

Various changes within the immigrant groups

The changes in the unemployment rate from February 2014 to February 2015 varied considerably within the immigrant groups. Immigrants from the EU countries in the east had a growth of 1.0 percentage point, while the African immigrants had almost an equivalent decline. The Asian immigrants also had a decline, at 0.6 percentage points. The remaining groups all had increases between 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points.

Large disparities among immigrants

As in previous years, immigrants from Africa had the highest unemployment level, at 12.6 per cent. This was followed by immigrants from the EU countries in the east with 9.5 per cent. The groups from

Asia and Latin America both had a rate of 7.8 per cent, while those from Eastern Europe outside the EU were at 7.5 per cent. In other words, the three latter groups were closest to the immigrant average.

The remaining groups all had rates far below the immigrant average, as is normally the case. Among immigrants from Western Europe, the unemployment was 4.0 per cent and among those from North America and Oceania, 3.4 per cent. As usual, the immigrants from the Nordic countries had the lowest rate, at 3.2 per cent.

Male immigrants had an unemployment rate of 7.8 per cent in the 1st quarter, while the corresponding share for female immigrants was slightly lower, at 7.3 per cent. In the rest of the population, the rates for men and women were 2.5 and 1.8 per cent respectively.

Continued decline among participants on labour market schemes

The decline in the number of participants on labour market schemes continues. As previously mentioned, there were almost 2 400 fewer participants among immigrants in February 2015 than in February 2014, which is a decline of 29.5 per cent within this participant group. Among participants in total, the decline was 27 per cent. A total of 5 700 immigrants were participants on labour market schemes in the 1st quarter of 2015, making up 43 per cent of the total participant group. As in previous years, the majority came from Asia and Africa.

All groups had a decline in the participant rate. When the rate of participants and unemployed are added together, immigrants from Africa and Asia had the strongest decrease, while those from the EU countries (both in east and west) had some growth.

Lower unemployment among Norwegian-born to immigrant parents than immigrants

Norwegian-born to immigrant parents is still a rather small group of unemployed persons despite some growth during the last year. This group constituted about 1 100 registered unemployed persons in the 1st quarter of 2015. The majority within this group are aged 15-29 years, and the unemployment rate among them was 4.9 per cent, which was 4.1 percentage points below the immigrant group at the same age (at 9.0 per cent) and 1.4 percentage points higher than the corresponding age group in the rest of the population (at 3.5 per cent).

The unemployment rate among Norwegian-born to immigrant parents decreased by 1.1 percentage points, while there was a decline of 0.4 percentage points within the other two population groups for those aged 15-29 years.