Unemployed – persons with no income-earning work, but who are trying to find work and are available to start working immediately.

NAV also publishes unemployment figures, but these only cover persons who are registered with NAV.

Statistics Norway’s figures from the LFS also include persons who are not registered with NAV, and many of the participants on labour market initiatives. On the other hand, some of the registered unemployed are not classified as unemployed in the LFS due to questions relating to seeking work. This particularly applies to elderly persons who have not been in employment for a long period of time. Persons who have been laid off (for up to three months) are classed as employed and not unemployed in the LFS.