Norway’s Progress Party wants ‘zero immigration’ from certain countries, union umbrella accuses US President Trump of causing chaos, and other news on Friday.
60,000 registered unemployed with NAV
New figures released by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) on Friday revealed that 60,600 people were registered as completely unemployed with the agency.
The figure amounted to around 2 percent of the total workforce in Norway. The total number of fully unemployed and other job seekers was 76,200 people.
“We estimate that the number of fully unemployed people will remain relatively stable when we correct for the break in the statistics and normal seasonal variations in April,” NAV director Hans Christian Holte said.
The break in statistics was due to a new job seeker register being launched earlier in the spring.
There were 58,9000 vacancies on NAV’s job posting site in April.
The Progress Party wants to halt immigration from “high-risk countries”
The Progress Party wants to have zero net immigration from countries in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia, with its immigration policy spokesperson Erlend Wiborg referring to these areas as “high-risk” for integration challenges.
“Our goal is zero net immigration from high-risk countries,” he told the newspaper Aftenposten.
“Over time, Norway has accepted far too many immigrants from such countries. It is not sustainable and imposes enormous costs on taxpayers. The experiences from Sweden are frightening,” he added.
Wiborg has claimed that refugees from these countries face major integration challenges related to crime, low employment, high welfare spending and social segregation.
He also said the party favoured establishing asylum reception centres in third-party countries.
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Union umbrella boss accuses Trump of causing chaos
Outgoing leader of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), Peggy Hessen Følsvik, used her last Labour Day speech as the umbrella’s chief to take aim at the US President Donald Trump.
“Now we see that American democracy and the rule of law are being dismantled bit by bit,” she said.
However, she also pointed out that the US was an important ally of Norway.
“In the 80 years that have passed since then [World War 2], we have built our peace on being allied with the United States,” she said.
She added that allies being threatened with trade tariffs and Trump’s push to take over Greenland created “chaos and uncertainty”.
Bergen Flesland to be affected by month-long disruption
Bergen Airport will be closed between the hours of 7pm and 7am between May 4th and June 6th so that new asphalt can be laid on the runway.
Airport operator Avinor said that flight routes have been adapted with the closure in mind.