Norway has a shortage of workers in several key sectors, according to the results of a nationwide survey published by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) on Thursday.
Overall, Norwegian businesses were short of 39,000 workers, according to the survey.
The health and social services industry remains the sector with the greatest Labour shortage, despite a slight decrease since last year.
Norway’s health and social services sector was missing some 11,450 workers. The biggest shortages were health professionals. This term refers to trained and certified healthcare workers in Norway.
The country also lacked general healthcare workers, nurses, specialist nurses and medical nurses.
“The results from the company survey show that the shortage in health, nursing and care is far higher than the number of unemployed. In the future, more people will have to work in health, and more people will have to stay in work longer,” NAV’s director Hans Christian Holte said in a report on the figures.
Foreigners who want to work in healthcare in Norway, such as nurses or doctors, will typically need authorisation from the Norwegian Directorate of Health, certified Norwegian language skills (unless they are from Denmark or Sweden), and their credentials translated for approval.
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The business survey from NAV was released on Thursday and maps the demands for labour among 11,311 Norwegian firms.
Industrial work, construction and building, tourism, transport and the service industry have the greatest need for workers. However, in some of these industries, the number of relevant workers registered as unemployed or job seekers was greater than the shortfall of workers.
Below you can see a table of the sectors lacking the most workers in Norway. If it doesn’t load, click here.
The survey also outlined the kinds of education businesses lack, not just the industry where labour is needed.
The country was most lacking in skilled tradespeople and vocational workers. Businesses were missing around 16,850 skilled workers, or 43 percent of the total shortage.
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There was the biggest need for people with a trade certificate, or fagbrev, in the mechanical and machine trades, such as industrial mechanics, construction machine operators and welders.
“High investments in oil-related activities in recent years have resulted in high activity in this industry, and are contributing to a shortage of skilled workers,” Holte said.
The fagbrev is a trade certificate and qualification awarded to those with a combination of formal vocational education and practical apprenticeship training. Holders must also pass a final trade examination.
After that, the country lacked workers with a university or college education equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Norwegian firms needed 10,050 workers with this educational background, with most people with a university education, or equivalent, needed in nursing.
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After this, highly educated workers with a master’s or equivalent were in the third-highest demand. Businesses needed an additional 5,200 people with a master’s, with the most significant gap being medical workers with a master’s.
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Despite the shortfalls in specific industries, demand for workers has fallen in recent years.
“Companies are reporting a lower need now than what we saw right after the pandemic. The labour shortage is more similar to what we saw in the period before 2022,” Holte explained.