Norway used to be an independent nation built on honesty, work and private initiative, where the state facilitated business activity and taxes went towards welfare schemes for the Norwegian working class, so that nobody would have to beg. Now Norway has been transformed into an EU colony where the state plays the leading role in business life and the nation is built on hypocrisy, regulation and public initiative, tax money is handed out to the entire world, and beggars are back on the streets. If you wish to run a private business at your own expense and risk under this regime, you are a complete idiot – and these are the reasons why:
The proportion of self-employed people in Norway is only 4.1 per cent. This is lower than in any other country in Europe, where the average is around 13 per cent. The state’s share of GDP is over 65 per cent, and it continues to rise, because both the Conservative Party (Høyre) and the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) want it that way. The Norwegian economy is in practice a pyramid scheme where politicians spend more and more money maintaining the myth of a well-run Norway, so that power is retained and the policies of globalisation and EU integration can continue without revolt.
High unemployment camouflaged behind public measures
The official unemployment figures in Norway must never be allowed to exceed 4 per cent. That has been the case since the 1970s, because the unemployment rate determines who is to sit in power in Norway. The absurd power of the trade unions ensures this. This is the reason why the public sector must grow and grow: it is an employment measure, together with higher education and countless welfare schemes.
But even with all this camouflage, the real unemployment rate lies far above four per cent. The proof of that is that when a completely ordinary grocery shop advertises a part-time position, they drown in applicants. That would never happen with two to four per cent unemployment. Nor does it take much to be removed from the unemployment statistics, because both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party swear that they “want more people in work” in a society without enough jobs:
If you work one hour a week, you are “employed”. If you are an “eternal student”, on benefits or on “measures”, or have simply given up on NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) and live “off grid” or from crime, you are no longer visible. This applies to hundreds of thousands. And yet both the Conservative Party and the Labour Party insist that “we need more hands” – that is, more immigrants from MENA countries without education or other qualifications.
Why not simply start your own business?
Since so many struggle to find work, one may easily be tempted to go into business for oneself. Build something. Create something. What about escaping the limitations of salaried employment and instead becoming wealthier by working for yourself? In that case, you are suitably naïve. This approaches pure self-harm, because absolutely all politics in Norway is designed so that people should not become self-employed, and should not become rich at their own expense and risk.
Norway is designed around people having salaried positions, protected by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). And best of all is to seek refuge in a public-sector position for the rest of one’s life, with everything this entails in terms of security and special advantages that employees in the private sector can only dream of. In the public sector, the job market grows steadily. There are always more positions, the salary is good, guaranteed and index-regulated, the competence requirements are moderate, and the risk of dismissal is approximately equal to zero. The disadvantage is that you must be like everyone else and have the right education, because competence comes second.
But let us say that you nevertheless choose to create your own business. A fish shop, perhaps? Or a transport company? Then paid holidays are over, you are untouched by all wage settlements, you have no protection against dismissal, no AFP early retirement pension, and no possibility of parental leave. Rights under the Working Environment Act do not apply to the self-employed, and you will probably have to work 16 hours a day because you have no choice. And if you operate at a loss, nobody feels sorry for you.
Welcome to self-employed sleepless nights
You may also say goodbye to a good night’s sleep as a self-employed person, because competition is fierce, willingness to pay has declined, and you never know when the state will impose new and costly regulations upon you. You can also forget about taking sick leave, because self-employed people have a 16-day waiting period, and you cannot afford to pay the state for sickness insurance valid from day one. This means that while salaried employees in Norway have Europe’s highest rate of sick leave, the self-employed are, curiously enough, never ill. It is so conspicuous that even Statistics Norway (SSB) refuses to keep statistics on sick leave among those who work for themselves.
If you nevertheless choose this solution, you are immediately struck by the public bureaucracy and tax burden whose purpose is to ensure that you do not become rich. And if it is not the Norwegian bureaucracy, then it is the EU that dumps thousands of regulations upon you, so that you never really have time to run your business, but instead must fight with paperwork. And then the politicians hit you with high electricity prices, fuel prices and climate taxes that consume the entire profit. Bon appétit!
In addition, you must deal with demanding employees backed by trade unions, who are happy to disappear on parental leave or long-term sick leave the week after they are hired. And should you nevertheless manage to fight your way through everyday life, achieve success and finally become rich – well, then the state attacks you with tax increases and wealth tax, as though you had done something wrong. And do not simply take my word for it; let me refer to a story I received by e-mail:
A story from reality
“I worked this winter on steep slopes with ice, frost and snow clearing away a spruce plantation (Sitka) that my father was tricked into planting in the 1960s. Then I called the forestry officer in my municipality to ask whether he could help me register the timber for collection and sale. No, he could not, but I could get the telephone number of a woman who could help me.
I call, but no, she cannot help either; from her I receive another telephone number to try. Lady number two is pleasant, but she cannot take the registration over the telephone. I may come personally to her office. And the office is in Porsgrunn, while I live in Askvoll, on the west side of Norway. So those possibilities are exhausted, but kind as she is, she can send me a form which I may fill out and return to her.
After a week the form arrives (had it been sent by message in a bottle, it would probably have arrived faster). But I fill it out to the best of my ability and return the form, and then another week passes. Then the pleasant lady calls and says the form is nicely completed, but they need someone to stand responsible for the timber, someone who has taken a course in this, you understand, and it must be the correct course. I say that I have worked in forestry as a farmer for 50 years, but that sort of thing is of no help.
So I find a local person who has the ‘course’ and can stand responsible for the forestry work being done correctly. But naturally he wants something for the ‘risk’, though fortunately the demand is very moderate. And that is a good thing, because one is not paid much for a timber stack of 40 cubic metres. It does not even cover the fuel costs for the tractor and chainsaw. I can forget wear and tear on the tractor, the winch and myself.
The small amount for two months of hard work does not enter my account. It first goes into the municipality’s forestry fund, where 4 per cent is deducted for the forestry fund, a good chunk for the timber lorry, and then, if I remember correctly, there is also a forestry levy. Then I must crawl to the municipality and ask whether I may please receive some money for the timber I delivered. If there is anything left.”
Costly climate hysteria from the EU
The Støre-Røra government has promised both simplification and less bureaucracy for business. This is actively undermined by EU regulation. And just how ridiculous this has become may be read about here, when I tried to get a tyre workshop to repair my tyre in 2023. Now business life is also being hit by a new energy regulation concerning the “mapping of energy consumption”, administered by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), which truly will create bureaucracy and costs without any value whatsoever. The intention is that energy-intensive industry and large corporations shall gain a better overview of energy use and efficiency opportunities.
Every larger business is now required to carry out energy mapping, and the requirements encompass all energy use: electricity, petrol, diesel and gas – including electricity that the company produces itself from, for example, solar panels. In time it appears that even smaller businesses will have to waste time on this nonsense. The work is so extensive that in practice it must be carried out by independent consultants. The EU regulation sets requirements regarding who may perform the mapping:
The person must possess at least a bachelor’s degree in “energy management” and at least two years of experience in energy consultancy. Thus EU regulation also becomes a job creator for people who have invested in education in “sustainability”, because most companies do not possess this competence. And that cost comes on top of higher electricity prices, fuel prices, material costs, rising interest rates and shrinking margins – not least in the energy-intensive construction and civil engineering sector. They are merely bureaucratic expenses, expenses in exchange for nothing.
“Norway is booming.”
I know several self-employed people, and all complain about the same thing: they are systematically undermined by politicians, the government, the Storting and the public sector. Creating jobs for others is regarded as capitalist exploitation of the working class. One enriches oneself through the sweat of others, and such things are to be punished in our thoroughly socialist Norway. Taxes, wealth tax and employer contributions must rise, rise, rise! The filthy-rich state is merely an enormous cost and burden, contributing nothing, yet always demanding more money for its non-contribution.
And this, dear readers, is the reason why business owners increasingly wish to exploit municipal and state support schemes in order to survive. Instead of hiring a Norwegian 25-year-old who has never obtained a job, they hire a “refugee” whose salary NAV pays. They exploit support schemes for climate and whatnot, and seek municipal contracts where they can write invoices with a pitchfork. Thus our business sector merges ever more closely with the public sector – until the public sector accounts for 100 per cent of GDP. That indeed appears to be the goal – beneath the proud banner of the EU empire.
Naturally, this means that some industries actually “are booming” in Norway, but these are mostly the giants with endless resources: the oil sector, naturally. But also the consultancy industry. Money movers. Banks. Insurance. The climate industry. Parking companies. Electric car sellers. Private hospitals. The food cartel. International speculators. Postal companies. And criminals – especially fraudsters. The corrupt are also enjoying prosperous times.
But for small businesses such as the hairdresser on the corner, the carpentry firm, the bakery, the grocery shop, the clothing store, the dentist and the restaurant in your local area, the bureaucratic pressure only grows greater and greater, and the margins smaller and smaller. Until one gives up, and everyone ends up on NAV.