Norway’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up to 4.5% in June 2026, from a five-month low of 4.4% in May. The number of unemployed rose to 139,000 from 134,000 in the previous month. In contrast, the youth unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 declined to 13.0% from 14.4%.
The employment rate increased to 70.2% in June, up from 69.5% in May, as the number of employed persons grew to 2.939 million from 2.911 million. The labor force participation rate also climbed, to 73.5% from 72.7%, with the labor force expanding by 32,000 over the month to reach 3.078 million.
Despite these gains, total man-weeks worked, adjusted to a 37.5-hour workweek, slipped to 2.185 million from 2.2 million in the prior period. Compared with June a year earlier, the unemployment rate was 0.9 percentage point higher, at 5.4%.
