Iryna (47) is one of 10,000 Ukrainians ready for Norwegian working life. Nav asks employers to open their doors.

– We work efficiently, are easy to learn and very loyal. Ukrainian Iryna Bielova is one of many thousands of refugees who are now knocking on the door of Norwegian employers.

Bielova fled with two children from Odesa to Norway in March 2022. She became a widow after marriage to a Norwegian man who died in 2018.

– I want to thank Norway and Norwegians for their incredible help. When you lose your job, country and home, you have to start your life here all over again. We would like to live in Norway. It is our second homeland now, she says.

Bielova has 15 years’ experience as a team leader in banking and IT. The first year in Norway she worked, with English as the working language, in a software company.

Aftenposten has written about how many Ukrainians are struggling to find work after the authorities’ “express programme”. A researcher fears that rapid integration will create a new underclass in Norway

10,000 unemployed Ukrainians

Over the past year, Iryna Bielova has taken an introductory course in Norwegian and social studies. At the same time, she has completed a 30-week course in accounting. Bielova speaks Norwegian well, is outgoing and is now looking for a job in finance and administration.

Now 7 percent of the unemployed in Norway are Ukrainians. In total, Nav has now registered 10,263 Ukrainian refugees as job seekers. And there will be more: Thousands of Ukrainian refugees, like Bielova, will drop out of the course in the coming months and look for work.

Nav director Hans Chr. Holte says this is the test of Norwegian society’s care for them.

– It is crucial that as many Ukrainians as possible come to work. It is what creates inclusion and integration in society. This is what gives the refugees the opportunity to develop social understanding and language in Norway, he says.

Social budgets

If the refugees do not find work, they will eventually burden the municipalities’ social budgets. Holte asks employers to be aware of their responsibilities. He asks them to ask themselves what they can do to get as many people employed as possible, as quickly as possible.

– Many industries need people. Even if the match is not perfect, my call is to look at what is needed so that they can contribute in the health and care sector and other sectors with an obvious lack of people, he says.

Before Christmas, the government relaxed the requirements so that Ukrainian professional drivers can get to work quickly.

The introductory program has been adjusted, becoming more vocationally oriented, and the participants can receive parts of the language training in work practice. Holte also points out that separate courses have been introduced for healthcare personnel and greater opportunities to be an assistant in the workplace while they work to obtain authorisation.

– Don’t think about the name

Career counselor Trine Lise Lyng in Joblearn arranges job courses. She describes the Ukrainians like this:

– They come with a lot of expertise. They come with a lot of experience. They need help from us to transfer the expertise to Norwegian conditions.

– How are the job opportunities?

– Very good. They are very conscientious and have a high work ethic, she replies and gives the following advice to employers:

– Look at all the resources they have. Look at the experience they have. Look at their motivation. And don’t think about what name they have, says Lyng.

Denmark ahead

Denmark has succeeded in getting around twice as high a proportion of Ukrainian refugees into working life as Norway.

– Do we have too high a threshold for entering working life in Norway?

– We have been more concerned with Norwegian training in the early days, while Denmark has had a lot of focus on work adjustment from the start. In a meeting with a group who have temporary residence, and many of whom have higher education, it may appear that the Danish strategy has led to more people getting into work quickly, Holte replies.

Labor and Inclusion Minister Tonje Brenna also asks that employers contribute.

– Many employers give people a chance. At the same time, we know that the private sector is better than the public sector at using the tools we have to get more people into work. I would like the public sector to get more attention from track scribe Brenna in an email.

Tightened in

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, 75,129 Ukrainians have applied for collective protection in Norway. Last autumn, the number exploded, and at most 4,787 Ukrainian refugees arrived in just one month in September.

The government then tightened up and, among other things, the right to arrears of child benefit was removed. The trend was reversed, and in the first three months of the year the average is 1,450.