The Oslo Global Mobility Forum 2012, held on 18 October, sought to provide Norwegian businesses with a competitive advantage in the race to attract the best global talent, and to put Norway on the map as an attractive place for overseas professionals and their families to work and liven in.

Speakers included Gina Lund, State Secretary at Norway’s Ministry of Labour, Andrew Robb, global mobility director at Deloitte, Sally Khallash, founder of the Center for Global Talent Strategy, Arvid Hallen, director of the Norwegian Research Council, Lars-Kåre Legernes, managing director of Oslo Chamber of Commerce, Unni Steinsmo, CEO of SINTEF Materials Technology, and Per Busk Christiansen, acting head of group communications at DNV.

Norway’s official population reached five million today, according to figures by Statistics Norway.

Between the years of 2001 and 2005 the average Norwegian women's fertility rate was recorded by Statistics Norway as amongst the highest in Europe.

With is government free of net debt, and the biggest budget surplus of any triple-A rated nation, the economy of Norway, the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter, has steered clear of Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis, thanks to a $600 billion sovereign-wealth fund.

However, despite its seemingly buoyant economy, Oeystein Olsen, Governor of the Central Bank of Norway, has warned investors that the Norwegian krone may weaken, claiming the krone to be in a weaker position than the Swiss franc.

“At some point there is a risk for investors that the krone may weaken,” said Mr Olsen.

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Norwegian government have advised management boards of large Norwegian against high pay for executives.

The government, businesses, and unions are heading into annual wage negotiations, and the reasoning is that, by moderating average salary increases, inflation and unemployment can be kept to a low.

This comes after last year’s figures showed a 16.3% rise in executive wages, and only a 4.3% rise in wages of the average worker.

Norwegian government minister of business and trade Tronde Giske says he has made it very clear to companies in which the state has large ownership stakes, that executive pay raises should be restrained.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg agreed this week to pass the EU’s divisive Temporary and Agency Work Directive, despite the opposition of the other coalition parties.

The directive guarantees those working through employment agencies equal pay and conditions to employees in the same business who do the same work.

However, part of the directive allows for member states to detract from this principle of equal treatment, as long as an 'adequate level of protection is provided'.

This could be in the form of a qualifying period, before which agency workers would not be entitled to equal treatment.

In January, over 150,000 workers protested against the introduction of the directive. Unions and the opposing political parties believe that the adoption of the directive will boost temporary agencies and precarious work in Norway, where permanent employment so far is a norm.