3.Diverse livelihoods and employment

We followed two indicators to understand this goal. The first is: inclusive labour policies and standards with an effective welfare system for low income groups. The second: relevant skills and training which includes effective mechanisms for matching skills to the current and emerging employment marketplace.

1.2. Challenges in Trondheim

The crisis of the oil sector in 2014 increased the unemployment rate of Norway, especially of west coast regions whose economies are based on oil sector. Trøndelag, however, has less impact from that crisis and had a continuous decline in their unemployment rate. According to NAV’s statistics (2017), the unemployment rate of Sør-Trøndelag for 2017 was 2,2%. In December 2017 the rate was 1,9% which is the lowest rate in 30 years, especially the unemployment rate for young people below 30 years has decreased (NAV, 2017). Last year the unemployment rate fell 20% and the sectors with the highest decrease in unemployment rate are engineering and ICT, which has decreased 40% the last two years (NAV, 2017). Bente Wold Wigum, region director in NAV Trøndelag writes in an article published by Adressa, that this is a good starting point for Trøndelag in 2018 (Wigum, 2018). However, another challenge is rising as the demand to get sufficient qualified labor force is rising. The society is in continuous change and the technological development has caused radical changes in the job market. It is predicted that a lot of routine-based work will be replaced by machines and manual labour will be done where working force is cheap. The fast pace of the changes also causes knowledge and competence to not last for long. The need for readjustment in the society is also linked to changes when it comes to the transition to more long-term sustainable solutions, also called “the green change”. Some jobs are more vulnerable than others, and the need for diversity in skills both on state level, city level and personal level is increasing. Acting director Arve Winsnes in NAV Sør-Trøndelag also reminds us that even though the rate is decreasing, there are still a lot of people that are unemployed (Winsnes, 2017). In Trondheim there are 2483 people registered without work, which is 2,4 % of the workforce (the sum of employed and unemployed) in January 2018 (NAV, 2017). There are some groups that are more vulnerable than others. The unemployment rate for immigrants is higher than for the rest of the population. The average on state level is 5,6 for immigrants, while for the rest of the population it is 1,9 (Statistics Norway, 2018). The Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) (2018), writes that there are two groups: Immigrants who are over-represented in occupations without requirements for education, the other group is immigrants with a high level of education, who are overqualified for their current job. A study among immigrants in 2016 showed that 23% stated that they were overqualified for their job, while 13% of the rest of the population stated the same (IMDi, 2018).

1.3. Stakeholders

1.3.1. NAV

NAV, or the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration consists of a governmental administration and social services on municipal level. NAV administer a third of the national budget through schemes such as unemployment benefit, work assessment allowance, sickness benefit, pensions, child benefit and cash-for-care benefit. Every municipality in Norway has at least one local NAV office, however the different offices provide different services. The minimum requirements for a NAV office is that they provide economic social help, and a qualification program. Their main goals are to: ● Get more people active and in work, and fewer people on benefits ● Create a well-functioning job market ● Provide the right services and benefits at the right time ● Provide good services tailored to the users' needs and circumstances ● Comprehensive and efficient labour and welfare administration

The ways they prepare, respond, adapt and transform One of the main goals NAV has is to get people active and in work, and they provide quite a few measures to help people into work and prevent unemployment. Some of the measures individuals that are unemployed or are at risk of getting unemployed are being offered are:  Clarification: Help to map one's qualifications and what they can be used to.  Work practice: NAV cooperates with different businesses that provides practice. This is for those who are in need of work experience or training, or have reduced working capacity.  Follow-up measures: Assistance or guidance to find or to keep one’s job. This could be a mentor to help you either at your working place or to help you with your studies.  Qualification: Measures for those who need more competence before they can compete on the job market.  Work-oriented rehabilitation: These are measures which aims at strengthen your capacity, and help you through health related or social problems in your working life.  Grants for wage expenses: The employer can get parts of the wage covered by NAV, for instance if one, caused by health issues, is exposed to lose his/hers job.

 Qualification programme: This is for those who wants to work, but are in need of extra guidance to make it.  Facilitation: Measures to help those who are able to work if practical circumstances are facilitated.  Facilitated work: This is work that is adjusted to fit special needs.

1.3.2. Trondheim Adult Education Center

Trondheim Adult Education Centre offers free education for those who have not completed primary and secondary school, high school and provides Norwegian language training for immigrants. Interviewing two of the assistants they said that they have about 2000 students. For the Norwegian course anyone with asylum applying would be accepted by Norwegian law. This semester there were about 1200 students attending. For the primary and secondary school they have two units, one unit for young students between 16 and 20 with about 200 students, and one unit for those above 20. This semester they had about 170 applicants, but only 70 were accepted because that is what their budget allowed, so the demand is clearly higher than what is offered. When applying for primary and secondary school those with special needs will be prioritized, and some groups are required to be accepted. Even though this is not specifically aimed at immigrants, almost every adult doing the primary and secondary school are so. The number of Norwegians are decreasing drastically, which is probably because the schools have been better at following up students when they are young.

1.4. Measures aimed specifically at getting immigrants active and in work

In 2016 Trondheim Kommune was nominated by the Directorate of Integration and Diversity for their work with refugees that year. One of the reasons for that were how they collaborated with public institutions and private businesses and organizations to get immigrants, and especially refugees active and in work. In 2016, 53% of the participants in the introduction course go straight into work or education after finishing, which is the highest number among the Norwegian big cities (IMDi, 2016). NTNU and Trondheim Kommune are collaborating with a programme called Academic Guest Network. This is a measure aimed at refugees with academic background, that are doing the introduction programme. This is a programme institutions at NTNU can sign up to. Right now six institutions are involved. The idea is to include refugees in the social life and give them a professional update, and that this will help them get a job or to do further studies. Gulabuddin Sukhanwar from Afghanistan participated in the programme and says that just being a part of an academic environment, participating in classes, meet other students and participate in discussions motivated him and has been an important part of his inclusion. This also helped him getting a one year job at Litteraturhuset. He states, however, that there should be more

institutions engaged in this collaboration so that more refugees could get the same opportunity he got (WaterlooNormannsen, 2017).

1.5. Measures for matching skills to the current and emerging employment marketplace

1.5.1. Sør-Trøndelag Region

On request from the government Sør-Trøndelag fylkeskommune in 2015 made a regional plan for labour and expertise 2016-2019. The goal with the planning process is to contribute in strengthening the contact and collaboration among different actors, such as the education institutions, private and public employers and NAV. They emphasized that it is important to approach the case from different angles. They also emphasize that expertise and competence is more than just formal education. It is about knowledge, engagement and skills, which can be gained from many instances. Furthermore, they present three measures they are working towards:  In the future, schools should not only give its students’ academic expertise, it should also give them expertise in how to develop their skills throughout their lives.  Improve the guidance and knowledge about the job market and relevant expertise for young people that are about to choose their professional direction.  Improve the possibilities for further training when employed and within the company to customize the expertise. This can also help getting more immigrants into work. The plan also mentions the huge possibility in getting more immigrants employed (SørTrøndelag FylkeKommune, 2016).

1.6. Perception of risk and reliance to the welfare system

The people we interviewed expressed confidence in both getting a job and in keeping their present job. Especially the two locals working in public sector expressed high unlikeliness that something would happen. A man working in private sector was more open to the idea that bad times could strike his business, but that he then would have to adapt, and assumed that he in some way would find a way to keep it up. The ones studying within cultural sector said that the market for that is not too big in Trondheim, but did not worry much about it, as they believed they would find something to do as long as they were flexible. They all showed a great reliance in the Norwegian welfare system, and knew that they would get unemployment benefit if they were unemployed. One woman we interviewed had been unemployed for some time some years ago, and told us that she had no problem being qualified to get unemployment benefit, but the monthly payment was not high, and that she had to rent out parts of her apartment to have more income. She said that it would probably have been harder if she did not own, but rented. She also expressed that the support she got from NAV was helpful. However, it was not possible to study and get unemployment benefit at the same time. In the end she got a new job. Those we interviewed that

were past their 50s were quite sure they wouldn’t lose their job, but said that they knew people that had problems to be hired because of their age. They also said that they would probably also have more difficulties in changing their profession.

1.7. What value does diversity in skills have?

Those we spoke to emphasized skills they have gained from many different sources beside their main profession or study field as very valuable. This could be part time jobs, hobbies, “dugnad”, volunteer work, student organizations and from changing study fields. They valued their diversity on a personal level, but also because it made them flexible in job opportunities. To some this had been crucial when they got their first jobs. However, one mentioned that flexibility had most to do with your mind set, that it was just as much about being willing to be flexible, and to do different things, just as much as having skills. Those who didn’t have professionally oriented education seemed to often have a harder time finding a job, but at the same they seemed more flexible in what they were doing, and had a lot of different jobs behind them. While those with a clear profession that we interviewed were less willing to change direction to avoid unemployment in bad times.

1.8. Project Idea: Provide immigrants whose academic degrees are not accredited in Norway with a chance to improve their education at NTNU

1.8.1. What is the idea, what risks does it tackle, and why is it important?

Immigrants have a much higher unemployment rate in Trondheim than the rest of the population (source). Immigrants are also not one group that have the same level of skills and education. There are those who do not have sufficient higher education to compete in the Norwegian job market and they usually get education at the Adult education center, and there are also those who have higher education but unfortunately their degrees are not accredited at NTNU. We think that the earlier category should be provided with opportunity to improve their education at NTNU instead of getting jobs that they are overqualified for.

There is already what is called “academic guest network” at NTNU which is an offer for immigrants to participate at NTNU. Many of immigrants are aware of that but those who participated think that more people should have the possibility to participate. So, our idea is to let immigrants, who have higher education but their degrees are not accredited in Norway, have a chance to improve their capabilities at NTNU. In this manner, this category of immigrants will not be overqualified for jobs, but they will increase their chances for being in leading professional positions in the future.

1.8.2. Short term Strategy:

The short-term strategy for this project is to first filter the immigrants from the moment they apply for resident permits at UDI. Our interest is that the abovementioned category is put in touch with the academic guest network at NTNU to discuss how they can improve their academic credentials.

1.8.3. Long term Strategy:

In the long term, the academic guest network at NTNU should be enlarged to become a fixed institution at NTNU that has a larger budget to cater for the increasing number of immigrants.

1.8.4. Limitations:

Ideas that aim at integrating foreigners in Trondheim might not be of huge interest for the rightwing government in Norway. UDI are now increasing VISA fees and trying to extend the period for acquiring Norwegian citizenship. Ideas like ours need bureaucratic changes might not be possible to do if UDI’s policy is not in line with that.