- 2021Design
- 2022Pilot
- 2023Pilot
- 2024Completed
Background
The past years have underlined the importance of having a job and the value of experiencing social connectedness and fellowship. There is a risk that the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent period of lockdowns, high unemployment and limited social contact will lead to more people becoming permanently excluded from working and social life. The government attaches great importance to preventing the coronavirus pandemic from leading to the permanent or long-term exclusion of more people from working life and social participation.
Almost 18% (620 000) of those aged 18-66 were neither in employment, education, nor training in 2019.
Objectives
The government's aim is a society with opportunities for all, where everyone who can, participates in working life. The goal is for no one to be left out.
Description
The White paper (Meld. St. 32 (2020-21), approved on June 2021, presents a comprehensive policy to include more people in working life and society.
The government has identified six areas where there is a need to continue to develop and strengthen efforts to prevent social exclusion and include more people in working life and society: they include better coordination between education, work and health, and better adaptation for users with extensive and complex challenges.
The government suggests several measures to improve the interaction between education, work and health:
- to continue, strengthen and assess the efforts in the inclusion initiative and advance cooperation between the sectors for work, health and education;
- to ensure that education for adults is better adapted to their needs for flexible and compressed courses (ref. White paper 21(2020-21));
- to strengthen and further develop collaboration between the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration and the county authority to offer more adults outside working life adapted upper secondary education, including vocational education and training;
- to consider initiating a pilot where adapted training programmes can be financed through joint grant funds;
- to obtain more knowledge about what it takes for unemployed people to complete necessary training courses and how to better support this;
- to initiate a process to develop further and use the skills of young gamers who...
The White paper (Meld. St. 32 (2020-21), approved on June 2021, presents a comprehensive policy to include more people in working life and society.
The government has identified six areas where there is a need to continue to develop and strengthen efforts to prevent social exclusion and include more people in working life and society: they include better coordination between education, work and health, and better adaptation for users with extensive and complex challenges.
The government suggests several measures to improve the interaction between education, work and health:
- to continue, strengthen and assess the efforts in the inclusion initiative and advance cooperation between the sectors for work, health and education;
- to ensure that education for adults is better adapted to their needs for flexible and compressed courses (ref. White paper 21(2020-21));
- to strengthen and further develop collaboration between the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration and the county authority to offer more adults outside working life adapted upper secondary education, including vocational education and training;
- to consider initiating a pilot where adapted training programmes can be financed through joint grant funds;
- to obtain more knowledge about what it takes for unemployed people to complete necessary training courses and how to better support this;
- to initiate a process to develop further and use the skills of young gamers who are outside working life;
- to strengthen Norwegian language training for adult immigrants;
- to encourage closer and more systematic interaction between work-oriented services and the health and care services;
- to test individual job support for young people under the age of 30.
The measures are for people in the age group 18-66, who are not in employment, education, nor training.
On 4 June 2021, the government approved and published the white paper. Measures in the white paper have been designed and the next step is implementation of those agreed.
The state budget for 2023 was approved, allocating NOK 30 million (more than EUR 2.6 million at the exchange rate on 18/07/2023) to prepare a pilot for a work-oriented disability benefit addressed to young disability benefit receivers under the age of 30. Employers can benefit from incentives to hire people with partially reduced work capacity.
Additionally, the introduction programmes for newly arrived immigrants have been expanded to include higher vocational education.
Measures were implemented.
A report commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion on the effects of the labour market measures was published 8 May 2024. The conclusion is that temporary wage supplement/hiring incentives gives the best effect on participants' employment. Other findings are:
- labour market measures have an effect on getting more people into the world of work;
- education as a measure is costly, but may have great effects when completed. This measure requires motivated participants;
- most of the measures have a positive socio-economic effect;
- measures have to be initiated faster than they currently are.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education and Research (KD)
Target groups
Learners
- Young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs)
- Learners with migrant background, including refugees
- Unemployed and jobseekers
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the integration of VET into economic, industrial, innovation, social and employment strategies, including those linked to recovery, green and digital transitions, and where VET is seen as a driver for innovation and growth. It includes national, regional, sectoral strategic documents or initiatives that make VET an integral part of broader policies, or applying a mix of policies to address an issue VET is part of, e.g. in addressing youth unemployment measures through VET, social and active labour market policies that are implemented in combination. National skill strategies aiming at quality and inclusive lifelong learning also fall into this sub-category.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to making VET pathways and programmes inclusive and accessible for all. It concerns measures and targeted actions to increase access and participation in VET and lifelong learning for learners from all vulnerable groups, and to support their school/training-to-work transitions. It includes measures to prevent early leaving from education and training. The thematic sub-category covers measures promoting gender balance in traditionally ‘male’ and ‘female’ professions and addressing gender-related and other stereotypes. The vulnerable groups are, but not limited to: persons with disabilities; the low-qualified/-skilled; minorities; persons of migrant background, including refugees; people with fewer opportunities due to their geographical location and/or their socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances.
European priorities in VET
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). White paper No one left out: Norway. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/da/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/41558