The staffing industry in Norway has performed better than expected in the second quarter of the year with temporary billings rising, the National Federation of Service Industries (NHO) said this week.

In the quarter, the number of hours worked by temporary staff grew +11%. The industrial sector, excluding the construction sector, grew strongly by +40.7%. The warehouse and logistics sectors saw growth of +26.5% while technical services were also highly in demand, growing by +24.1%.

The staffing market in Norway had previously seen a decline in the healthcare sector, which has returned to growth in the second quarter – hours worked increased +11.5% year-over-year. This does not mean that healthcare is on its way to recovery as last year’s comparison base has been low, the organisation warned.

Not all industries saw growth in the second quarter with the education sector witnessing a fall of -7.3%, followed by manufacturing (-6.3%), trade (-5%) and administration (-4.4%).

The NHO said that the European debt crisis is starting to take its toll on certain markets, excluding the country’s thriving oil industry where business is holding up. Much of the growth seen in the three months to June was due to an influx of foreign workers.

Overall, the penetration rate was 1.27% in the quarter – this signifies the number of temporary agency workers as a proportion of the total workforce.

Norway’s staffing industry has seen a second quarter of growth. In the first three months of the year, the market grew by +5.4% mainly driven by the construction industry.