OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s overall rate of unemployment fell to 8.2% in July from 9.6% in June as companies brought back more workers furloughed by the coronavirus pandemic, the Labour and Welfare Agency said on Friday.
The overall number, which includes people working reduced hours while seeking full employment, is down from a record 15.4% in early April, when a shutdown of parts of the economy resulted in mass furloughs and layoffs.
Counting only the fully unemployed, the rate now stands at 4.9% of the work force, up from 4.8% in June, while analysts polled by Reuters had expected a rate of 4.4%.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Alison Williams)
