Registered unemployment, immigrants, Strongest growth among Eastern EU males

Registered unemployment among immigrants increased from 6.5 per cent in February 2009 to 7.9 per cent in February 2010. In the rest of the population, this rate increased from 2.1 to 2.5 per cent. Males experienced the strongest growth within both groups.

The relative growth in the unemployment rate was almost the same among immigrants in total as in the majority population. Among the larger immigrant groups, those from the EU countries in Eastern Europe had the strongest increase together with those from the Nordic countries. African and Asian immigrants are to a lesser degree affected by last year’s unemployment increase, and they experienced a weaker relative growth than the majority population. This tendency is related to the employment pattern, since these immigrants mainly work in different industries to those mostly affected by the economic cycles, such as the construction and the manufacturing industries.

A total of 21,906 immigrants settled in Norway were registered unemployed in the first quarter of 2010. There was growth of 4,974 unemployed immigrants from the corresponding quarter in the previous year. Settled immigrants constituted in total 28 per cent of the total number of 78,762 registered unemployed in Norway in the first quarter, which was almost the same percentage as in the previous year.

Source: Statistics Norway