Norwegian authorities have said the country needs specialists in a variety of fields, and they set a quota of 5,000 work permits that could be granted this year to foreigners with special skills.
The result is disappointing. Newspaper Aftenposten reported Tuesday that only 780 have applied for and received work permits in Norway. Of those, 116 came from the US and 92 from Russia, followed by skilled workers from China, India, the Philippines and South Korea.
"The entry ticket to Norway is simply too high," says Jacub Godzimirski of the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (Norsk utenrikspolitisk institutt, NUPI). "It costs a lot to establish onesself in Norway, and salaries are low in comparison to many other countries."
Norway's tradition of egalitarianism also makes the country unattractive to foreign workers with years of often expensive education behind them. Most Norwegian employers don't link pay to university degrees, or the length of a worker's education, putting Norway at a competitive disadvantage. Employers in Germany, France and Portugal, for example, are more likely to tie pay levels to education levels.
Godzimirski, who specializes in Russian issues, also notes that workers in countries like Russia no longer have the same economic motives to emigrate, because of economic growth at home.
For many who do move to Norway, he said, the country is seen as a stepping stone to work in other countries.
Tough getting a job
Many Norwegian employers also remain skeptical about hiring foreign workers, an issue that's been in the news lately (see link list). Irina Roddvik, a PhD from the University of Moscow, didn't dare follow her Norwegian sweetheart to Norway until she'd lined up work first. She finally got an offer as a Russian teacher and moved to Norway in 1993.
But then followed years of looking for more suitable jobs, until telecommunications firm Telenor finally called to see whether she'd help them with their rapidly growing operations in Russia.
"Now I'm their so-called 'Director of external affairs,' and my job is to build relations between two equal nations," Roddvik told Aftenposten. She thinks Norway still faces major obstacles in attracting foreign talent, not least in the area of marketing and making use of those who do come.
"Fjords and fish are fine, but why not promote Norwegians as being reliable, that the society is consensus-oriented?," she muses. "Where is the business culture?"
