STATOIL posted the news on their intranet Tuesday morning, informing their employees that all employees would receive an offer to apply for severance packages. Previous practice in complying with necesarry workforce reductions has been severance packages to groups and departments within the company.
For the past year, the Norwegian economy has been experiencing an oil-driven economic downturn, which is expected to be followed by a modest recovery in the second half of 2016, Statistics Norway (SSB) predicts. Unemployment is expected to peak in 2016 at 4.6 per cent as an annual average.
There were 118 000 unemployed persons in May, corresponding to 4.3 per cent of the Norwegian labour force, Statistics Norway (SSB) reports.
The Gross domestic product for Mainland Norway rose by 0.2 per cent in the 2nd quarter of 2015, after three quarters of weak development. Statistics Norway (SSB) reports.
The harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) for Norway rose 0.3 per cent from May to June. Higher airfares and prices of food and fuel contributed to pulling the HICP up, while lower prices on electricity and furniture pulled the HICP in the opposite direction.
Exports of goods came to NOK 68.3 billion, while imports amounted to NOK 44.5 billion in July. This resulted in a trade surplus of NOK 23.8 billion; NOK 6.4 billion more than the same month in 2014.
