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ManpowerGroup: Working in Norway


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ManpowerGroup: Working in Norway

Business

Category: Human Resources

Norway’s Central Bank governor, Øystein Olsen, recently held his annual speech on the economic situation in Norway. One of his points was that although a very high percentage of Norwegians have jobs, it is imperative to extend working hours and work more. Norwegians are working less than average among the member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

We are not sure what the solution is. If you extend the working hours for those who are employed, you also raise the bar for those who are outside the labor market, making it more difficult for them to obtain the right skills.

Seniors have valuable skills

An important measure in obtaining more manpower is to ensure that seniors are working more. The new Norwegian pension reform will help facilitate this. Employers must also get out in the field and see that value lies with those who have been in the working world for a while, and who will soon be on the way out. Employers have a responsibility to apply the skills that seniors have, and to make sure that they putting in as many hours as possible at work.

In Norway, many children were born in the years after the WWII. They are rapidly approaching the age of retirement, and it will require even more people working to ensure the welfare and standard of living for the entire population. Although the return on Norway’s oil fund gives an important financial contribution to public expenditure, it is not enough to solve the challenges of the aging population. Norway’s challenge is to look in all directions for ways to solve the labor shortage that will come in the years ahead.

Greater demand for flexibility

In addition to having seniors work longer, we need to get young people to enter the workforce earlier, so that they can work alongside their studies. We must better target the education system to the needs that exist in society and the labor market. The new generation requires a different kind of work than we have been accustomed to; we are all children of our time.

Source: Norway.com

Published: March 29, 2024