Oslo - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
Get good at cleaning, cooking, and doing chores yourself. Cleaning services do exist and they are in high demand and pricy. The issue is that Norway has very low unemployment and high salaries, so there is little incentive for anyone to take a menial job. If you have kids, it will be a struggle to find babysitters, if you can find them at all. - May 2026
Cost of services is overall high and the availability is not as good as in other countries but we have an amazing cleaning lady who owns her own company. She's reliable, hard working, detail-oriented, and an overall great person. We pay her $35-42 hour depending on the exchange rate. - Dec 2022
Very expensive. - May 2021
Very expensive for most Americans, but a few folks employed a house cleaning service. - Jan 2020
I didn't know anyone in the Embassy community with household help. Sitters charged around 150 nok/hour. - Dec 2016
Haha - you can pay about 120 NOK/hr for someone of immigrant background who is looking to make a little money, for something like babysitting or housecleaning. That is legal as long as the person doesn't earn more than something like 5000 NOK/year for the work, if I remember correctly. If you go "white market" through an agency, I think it's twice as expensive. Needless to say, many people get by without domestic help. - Dec 2015
Somewhat available but very expensive, so not that common. - Jun 2015
Not sure - it is hard to find babysitters. Norwegians have the 1st year off, and then they are able to place their child in a local daycare. So there is not a big demand for nannies - Aug 2011