The scale of norwegian interwar unemployment in international perspective

Abstract

The author offers revised estimates of Norwegian interwar unemployment, and argues that total unemployment as a percentage of the labour force was considerably lower than the unemployment rate for trade unionists. The new figures, suggesting annual unemployment to hover between 5 and 10 percent for most of the interwar period, seem somewhat lower than the scale of Norwegian interwar unemployment according to the conventional view. However, they correspond well with similar calculations carried out for other countries, suggesting that unemployment as a percentage of the total labour force was about 1.5-3 times lower than that among insured workers. © 1995 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.