Norwegians are less optimistic than Swedes and Danes when it comes to their own country’s economy and job opportunities.

Our neighbors are kicking their boots in a recent survey on how we view the job market and economic development in our own countries.

Norwegians actually happen to be both of them more pessimistic and less optimistic than the Swedes and Danes.

– Sensational. I think they are wrong, Øystein Dørum, chief economist at Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon (NHO), tells Børsen.

You still have a possible explanation for why our neighbors appear to be stronger in faith in the future in the recent survey, which Opinion has conducted on behalf of NHO.

I think we are getting poorer

Here are some of the surprising findings from the survey:

• Four out of ten Norwegians believe that Norway will be one less rich earth in ten years than it is today. Only two in ten (19 percent) believe that Norway’s wealth has increased in ten years.
• The opposite is true of the Danes. There, three out of ten say that Denmark is a richer country, and just over two out of ten that Denmark will be poorer, in ten years. The Swedes are in the middle, but overall they look a little brighter in prospects than we do.

Christmas alarm at the border: – It’s wrong

The same attitude is reflected in the vision of the future labor market.

• Three out of ten Norwegians think it will be more difficult to get a job in ten years than it was before the crown crisis, while only two out of ten Danes think the same. Here, the Swedes are more in line with us, but a bit more optimistic.

– Very strange

However, in one of a total of seven questions, Sweden stands out:

Almost four in ten Swedes (38 percent) think it will be less good to live in Sweden in ten years. For Norway and Denmark, 27% and 24%, respectively, say the same.

Dørum, an economist at the NHO, scratches his head a bit with the answers:

– Norway has had a prosperity journey in recent years like no other. When is now plus in Sweden and Denmark than in Norway, which says that their country will be richer in ten years, it is surprising.

– 2021 will be much worse than many think

Norwegian pessimists are wrong, Dørum believes:

– We have been swept away by an oil wave with increased prosperity. It will be very strange if we are not going to be richer in ten years than we are today, and at least if we do not see the same increase in prosperity as Sweden and Denmark in the next ten years, NHO’s chief economist tells Børsen.

Restructuring decides

Dørum makes a clear reservation:

– Norway will go through a much bigger adjustment than Sweden and Denmark. If we want to continue to see better times, it assumes that we are successful in this transition to a less oil-driven economy. Norway’s success will determine who wins the growing Nordic championship, says Dørum.

Milling after “oil shock”: – Incomprehensible

– And perhaps here lies part of the explanation why Norwegians are less optimistic and more pessimistic in the Nordic countries?

– It is obvious to turn to the fact that the oil age has passed its peak as an explanation for the differences in the answers. But I think, as I said, that they are wrong, says Dørum.

The role of the people’s soul?

– Could it be something completely different? Do the Danes have slightly lower shoulders than we do?

– It is not at all inconceivable that Danes in general see life more clearly than Norwegians. But to answer that accurately, I had to compare with previous surveys and see the responses over time, and we don’t have that material, says Dørum.

Just over 3,000 people equally distributed in the three countries responded to the survey. They had to choose from seven statements and had to choose up to three with which they most agreed.

Corona warning: major differences

One of the statements was:

“I have to educate myself all my life to be competent enough for future jobs.”

Here too Norway stands out. 29 percent thought this was important, compared to 32 percent in Sweden and 35 percent in Denmark.

Tax cuts: – Small effect

Something that surprises Dørum again.

– Although more Norwegians believe that it will be more difficult in the job market in the future, there are still more Danes and Swedes who see the importance of strengthening their own skills. In that case, it is a bit contradictory. Perhaps Norwegians have more faith that the welfare state will solve things than our neighbors, Dørum wonders.

In that case, it’s a crossroads towards the main theme of NHO’s annual conference, which is organized as a two-hour digital television broadcast from Oslo Spektrum on January 7.

The title of the conference is “Job creators”, and the common thread of the program is the importance of the private sector for job creation in a sustainable society.