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Norway – Skills shortages becoming more acute

01 June 2015

Three out of ten employers in Norway are having trouble finding qualified candidates, a significant jump of 10% from last year, according to the Manpower Group global survey on talent shortage. The list of skill shortages is topped by skilled workers, engineers and drivers.

According to Maalfrid Brath, Managing Director of ManpowerGroup Norway, the fact that it is still difficult to obtain engineers in Norway “may also reflect that it is not so easy to transfer the expertise they bring from the oil industry to other industries.

Brath adds that “there is an imbalance between those who are unemployed and the skills employers demand. Geography also plays a role here. The need for engineers arises not always where the engineers are”.

The survey conducted for the tenth consecutive year, covers 41,700 employers in 42 countries. For Norway, the shortage list is as follows:

1. Skilled labour

2. Engineers

3. Drivers

4. Accounting & Finance employee

5. Leaders

6. Technicians

7. Doctors and health personnel (not nurses)

8. Sellers

9. Educational personnel

10. Nurses

Globally, it is skilled labour, salespeople and engineers who tops the list. In Europe, the same three occupations were on top, but with engineers in second place and salespeople in third.

Norway is slightly below the global level where 38% of employers say they have trouble filling jobs. Japan is located on the top where over eight out of ten employers say they cannot find enough people with the right skills. The solution is both targeted recruitment and development of the employees we already have, according to Brath.