"Employers must know their visiting hours"
"Employers must know their visiting hours and pay to retain and recruit the best minds for the future," says Yngve Sjølset, head of NITO's collective bargaining committee in the private sector.
In NITO's needs survey from 2025 conducted among Norwegian employers, 61 percent say that it is difficult to recruit engineers in the private sector. This is up five percentage points from the previous year.
– Employers must know their visiting hours and pay to retain and recruit the best minds for the future. High demand and an increasing need for expertise in the companies give us a good basis for the negotiations," says Sjølset.
Good local negotiations
NITO's members in the private sector respond in a member survey that they expect a salary increase of 6.3 per cent this year. The average salary increase in 2024 was 5.9 per cent, and 7.0 per cent for people who reported salary in both 2023 and 2024.
We expect that some employers will argue that the geopolitical situation is uncertain and that they therefore want a moderate settlement.
2024 was a very good year for Norway - again. Despite a low krone exchange rate and challenges in the construction industry, we have had from good to moderate growth in the business sector on the mainland, while for offshore-based industries it has gone very well.
Yngve Sjølset, Chair of the Collective Bargaining Committee at NITO Privat
NITO does not negotiate wages in the central negotiations with the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO). This is done in the individual enterprise. Therefore, Sjølset emphasizes the importance of real local negotiations between the parties.
"We will help ensure that the framework for good local negotiations is there through the agreement. I have high expectations and a good feeling about this year's local negotiations," says Sjølset.