On 12 March 2020, the then Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) took the podium and closed Norway. An unknown and deadly pandemic spread at high speed.
We had neither a vaccine nor a medicine. Avoiding contact with other people was, according to the authorities, the only way to limit the consequences of the infection.
This led to hundreds of thousands of Norwegians ending up in the Nav queue because a number of companies either laid off or laid off employees. At most, more than 400,000 Norwegians were registered as jobseekers with Nav.
– GREAT CONTRASTS: TV 2 met the then SAS pilot Joakim Stokke (26) at a deserted Oslo airport in April 2020. Now he has a completely different job. Photo: Daniel Sannum Lauten / TV 2
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A few weeks after the closure, TV 2 recruited more two thousand people who were left without a job overnight.
Through frequent surveys and several meetings with these people, we have been able to follow them through the pandemic.
READ THE SPECIAL FROM 2020: Got life turned upside down.
Today we can tell how many of them have fared, two years later.
From the cockpit to the Coop
For Joakim Stokke (26), life took an unexpected turn. He had spent a million kroner on training to become a pilot and was training in SAS when the pandemic came.
Then the job disappeared. First he was laid off, later dismissed. The solution was to move home to Selbu in Trøndelag and take a job in the local Coop Prix store.
There he has done so well that he has now become assistant store manager.
– We are not the largest store, so here there are varied work tasks with everything from mail to customer service and replenishment of goods, says Stokke.
– How do you see the opportunities to return to the pilot profession?
– I hope that it picks up again now that it opens up again. The dream is the same, he says.
Several had to go down in salary
From 17 February to 2 March this year, TV 2 has asked new questions to the group that lost its job after the measures were introduced. In this round, 1138 people responded to the survey.
Of these, 86 per cent now state that they are back at work as before the corona pandemic.
This is in line with Nav’s unemployment statistics, as shown in Februarye that just over 119,000 were registered as fully or partially jobseekers. This means that the unemployment level is back to what it was before the closure on 12 March two years ago.
FACTS ABOUT THE SURVEY
In the period 8 – 16 April 2020, TV 2 Nyheten asked people who had been financially affected by the corona pandemic to respond to a survey.
The sample was recruited through a web form distributed via TV 2’s website and social media. All respondents were identified by Bank ID or other electronic ID.
A total of 2126 people stated that they had been laid off, dismissed or had lost more than 50 percent of their income.
The same people have since been asked to answer questions from TV 2 four times, in August 2020, in February and August 2021, and in February 2022.
The last answers were obtained in the period 17 February – 2 March 2022. 1138 have answered, which is a response rate of 54.
All data is processed anonymously. TV 2 collaborates with the University of Oslo on a secure solution for collecting and storing sensitive data.
TV 2’s sample consists of 60.7 per cent women and 39.3 per cent men. There is thus a larger proportion of women in TV 2’s sample than in NAV’s labor market statistics.
Most people in the sample state that they have worked in the industries service professions and other work (27%), shop and sales work (21%) and tourism and transport (16%).
Compared with NAV’s labor market statistics, Oslo is underrepresented in the sample. TV 2’s questionnaire is only distributed in Norwegian. Thus, there is reason to believe that people with a minority background are underrepresented.
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NHO’s chief economist Øystein Dørum believes this agrees well with what the economy looks like in general.
– Now the activity is back to the level before the crisis, and the number of jobs is also higher now than before the pandemic. It tells that we in the macroeconomy have put the crisis behind us, says Dørum to TV 2.
– EXPERT: NHO’s chief economist believes that TV 2’s survey reflects well what has happened in the Norwegian economy over the past two years. Photo: Rune Blekken / TV 2
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At the same time, the survey indicates that more people have had to reduce their salaries. 28 per cent of those who return to work state that they have a lower income now than before 12 March 2020.
– When you have been unemployed for a while, you become a little less attractive in the labor market, but then you eventually have to take another job, and that job may not be as good. But I would say that it is after all better to have a job to go to, perhaps with a slightly lower salary, than not to have a job to go to, says Dørum.
In the survey, 18 percent state that they have a higher income now than before the pandemic.
– Reason for concern
Two years ago, more than half of those surveyed were worried or very worried about their financial future. Today, only one in five answers the same.
Dørum understands that those who are still without a job are worried.
– Job means income, and you feel better when you are at work. But we are now in a situation where unemployment is low, where there are more vacancies than there are unemployed, and where more than half of the companies say they lack people. It is actually a labor market with quite a few opportunities, even for those who have been unemployed for a while.
– So there is not much cause for concern?
– Yes, there is cause for concern. We tend to say that crises cast long shadows in the macroeconomy, but also for the individual. We know that long-term unemployment gives you a worse paper and means that you are further down the queue in the battle for new jobs. Therefore, we have also been concerned that one must not go on laid off for too long, even if it is a crisis.
TV 2 has also asked how the people in the sample will describe their mental health now, compared to before the pandemic.
More than one in three of the 1137 respondents states that it is somewhat worse or much worse.
Enjoying the freedom
One of those who was thrown out of unemployment, but who is now back at work, is Tone Martinsen (56). She had had a permanent and secure job in Stena Line for many years, but was downsized when the pandemic hit.
– It was absolutely cruel. 2019 was such an incredibly good year for me in terms of work. When the job is good, there is much else that is also good. It was terrible when this suddenly happened, she says.
– BACK: Tone Martinsen (56) got a tough message when the corona hit. Now she is back at work, and everyday life is, so to speak, normal. Photo: Petter Sørum-Johansen / TV 2
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However, she was not unemployed for very long. Today, Martinsen works as a porter at Akershus University Hospital, where she is a call-up substitute.
– It feels great to have a job. It is to have a fixed income, to have something to go to and to have good colleagues, says Martinsen, who especially takes one thing with him after two years of pandemic.
– I never think I will take freedom for granted anymore. May 17 will take on a whole new meaning after this.
– Most important that you have a job
Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre (Labor Party) reacts with joy that 86 percent of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic are back at work.
– In March 2020, tens of thousands of people were thrown into redundancies and unemployment, and many have lived with great insecurity for almost two years. So the fact that we now have many people in work again, and that there is record low unemployment and a large shortage of labor, it is positive for those concerned, says Vestre.
– There are still many who are without a job. What is the government doing for them?
– Now we pursue an active job creation policy that is about two things. One is to help the business community create even more profitable, green, safe jobs across the country. The second is to pursue a labor policy that means that more of those who are outside can now come in again.
– HAPPY: Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre (Labor Party) is happy that most people who lost their jobs during the pandemic are now back at work. Photo: Ida Cecilie Madsen / TV 2
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– Several of those who are back at work, work with other things than what they have been trained for and may prefer to work with. How do you view that situation?
– It’s a bit like that. You move jobs and adjust, and the business community adjusts. The most important thing is that you are in a job, have something meaningful to do and belong to a camaraderie and produce and contribute to society – and not least that you have a good and secure salary that you can live on and for and with.
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