Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration

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This story will be updated throughout the day. Photo of at least some construction going on normally by Mark Sabbatini.

“This is the highest unemployment rate in Norway since World War II” at 10.4 percent and Svalbard has the highest unemployment rate of any region in Norway at more than 14 percent, according to figures released Tuesday by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration. But while the report showing a 95 percent nationwide jump in claims since March 17 emphasizes the obvious – the sharp increase is due to the coronavirus crisis – the numbers don’t yet appear to reflect the reported 90 percent layoffs of Longyearbyen’s tourism workers (and possibly other sectors) or the high percentage of foreign residents ineligible to claim benefits.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

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