According to a new report from NIFU, the Norwegian Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education, non–western immigrants with higher education are twice as likely to be unemployed after completing their studies, as their Norwegian fellow–students. This applies also in cases in which immigrants speak good Norwegian, or have studied in Norway. According to Liv Anne Støren, author of the report, the decisive factor is whether applicants are western. She also found that non–westerners in employment are more likely than Norwegians to be overqualified for their work. Earlier studies have shown that immigrant graduates in natural sciences and technology are at greater risk of unemployment than graduates in other fields.

More than 42% of the man–labour years in academic positions at the University of Oslo are being carried out by persons above the age of 55. Developments at other Norwegian universities are similar, making a surge in demand for young researchers within the near future inevitable. Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Education Bjørn Haugstad recommends research as a career, but points out that prospects are brighter for natural scientists than for historians.