Norway's Industry Faces Skill Shortage Amid Criticism of Green Subsidy Program

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre visited Rosenberg Verft in Stavanger, urging Norway to improve mobility of labour and education to meet industrial needs. A recent NHO competence barometer shows 62 % of member firms report unfilled skill gaps, with 67 % of those gaps in engineering and technical fields.

At the same time, commentators call for a full audit of the state’s green industrial push, which has allocated tens of billions of kroner through agencies such as Enova, Innovation Norway and Siva. Battery makers Morrow Batteries and Freyr have each received roughly 2 billion kroner in public loans, guarantees and equity, sparking concerns over the scale of fiscal risk and the effectiveness of the policy.

The debate highlights a tension between the need for a skilled workforce to sustain Norway’s traditional industrial base and the ambition to become a leading producer of green technologies such as batteries, hydrogen and offshore wind.