Norway has been a major league player in shipping for 150 years. The country still has one of the largest merchant shipping fleets in the world, and also has a large and well-reputated shipping industry at shore.

In the 1970's Norway started production of oil and gas in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Norway at present holds the position of the world's second largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia and is expected to maintain this high level of production for several years to come.

Norway's mountanious landscape with many waterfalls gave inspiration to engineers already in the late 18th century. Several waterfalls have been developed into hydroelectricity plants which provide cheap power to power-intensive industry e.g. aluminum plants.

The labour market in Norway

Unemployment in Norway plummeted in the 1993-1998 period and was by 1999 record low by European standards. However, in the last couple of years a strong currency and a high interest rate have created problems for several Norwegian companies - especially those which base their activity on export. During the last year some companies have been forced to reduce their staff and the unemployment rate is rising even though it still is low compared to many other countries.