Ethnic diversity and labour market inclusion

Norway’s immigrant population has increased threefold over the last two decades. It equals to half a million people. Still, Norway faces a challenge of underrepresentation of immigrants in its workforce despite increasing labour demands.

In this report, The Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) presents a framework that can be used to measure ethnic diversity and the inclusion of people with immigrant background in working life in Norway. The framework consists of a set of indicators that provide an overview of various aspects of labour market integration among people with an immigrant background.

And in the report, the framework is also used to describe the present status and development. It shows that immigrants encounter barriers to workforce integration, with lower employment rates compared to native Norwegians, especially in sectors with lower educational requirements. And it documents that language proficiency and discrimination during job searches emerge as significant obstacles to immigrant workforce integration.