Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report received in October 2008, incorporating the observations made by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, as well as the replies to its 2007 direct request.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Active labour market measures. The Government recalls that after a recession in 2002 and 2003, the strong economic upturn continued until the first half of 2008, when the unemployment rate reached an all time low of 2.5 per cent, the lowest among all members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The number of registered full-time unemployed fell to 46,000 persons in 2007, of which 25 per cent were out of work for over six months, and less than 10 per cent were long-term unemployed, which was well below the OECD average. Among the registered unemployed, less than half received unemployment benefits, and a small additional proportion of recipients benefited from other benefits such as rehabilitation benefits. The Committee notes the Government’s explanations that the rapid employment growth after 2005 resulted in a higher labour force participation rate in the Norwegian population, lower unemployment rates and an increase of labour immigrants. However, the Committee remains concerned about the low unemployment rate and the high share of welfare benefit recipients, amounting to 18 per cent of the population as indicated in the 2009 OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 78. In this regard, the impact of the merger of the Public Employment Service (NAV) and the National Insurance Service, which will be completed by 2010 and result in the establishment of the Labour and Welfare Organization, is a focus of the Committee’s interest. The Committee asks the Government to provide an evaluation in its next report of the impact the merger of the NAV and the National Insurance Service is having on increasing participation in the labour force. The Committee also invites the Government to provide information in its next report on how the measures adopted to support employment lie within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy (Article 2(a)).

Vulnerable categories of workers. Considering work and participation in the labour market as an important strategy to counteract poverty and social exclusion, the Government continued to use measures to promote employment for vulnerable categories of workers. As compared to 2006, the OECD data for 2007 show increases in the participation rates of women by 1.2 percentage points to 73.1 per cent (men: 79.5 per cent), while this group’s unemployment rate fell by one percentage point to 3.4 per cent, which is even lower than that of men with 3.6 per cent. The participation rate of young persons aged between 15 and 24 years increased by 2.9 percentage points to 55.8 per cent. The Government reported that, from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the participation rates increased by 1.4 percentage points for workers between 55 and 66 years and 0.7 percentage points for workers between 67 and 74 years. The Government’s measures to increase the participation rate included policies such as the “day-by-day labour market policy”. The Government introduced a new pension system, aimed at providing incentives for older persons to extend their working career; programmes to help long-term unemployed persons into work, for example, through a wage subsidy. It also adjusted procedures for immigration from outside the EEA, especially for persons from the new EU Member States. The Committee would welcome receiving information in the Government’s next report on the impact of the abovementioned measures on promoting employment and achieving lasting integration of vulnerable categories of workers into the labour market.