Do you know which country has an unemployment rate of 5% in 2016? It’s Norway.
Currently, in France the unemployment rate is about 10,5%.
According to a ranking made by the OCDE in 2012, Norwegians earn $6670 by month versus $3797 for a French citizen.
Living cost in Norway is very high as I can see during those months. But it’s normal according to Norwegians salaries. The purchasing power is higher here than in France. Further, Norway is well-known to be a fair country for gender equality (including wages).
Indeed, wealth’s repartition is better here. To illustrate this fact, we can use the Gini coefficient. According to Wikipedia, Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation’s residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality.
Below a World map with Gini coefficient. If the country is in dark green, it indicates one of the most fairly country for income distribution. For example, South Africa have a bad Gini coefficient. That’s mean, a few people receive the majority of incomes.
Norway is a wealthy country. Thanks to petroleum exploitation, they created the Sovereign wealth fund. This fund is managing more than $700 billions.
Wealth allows some social advantages, like long break after a child for woman and also for man. Moreover, it’s unpopular for a mother in Norway to go back to work quickly after the birth and also to go back to work full time. Actually, most of the mother go back to work for a part time schedule. This is not the same way of thinking in France.
Nevertheless, as reported by La Tribune, very high salaries can be a problem. In fact, in the last 20 years Norwegian’s wages grew very rapidly. Therefore, many people have made a choice: a part-time work. With free time, they are taking care of children, go skiing, hiking or take some rest in a cabin. People earn more and work less. The result of this is a lack of market share. But Norway is still one of the most efficient country like France.
Have a nice week-end,
Pierre.
