Per Engebretsen is a Norwegian civil servant.

He was born in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, and holds the cand.oecon.

Cand.oecon.

Candidatus oeconomices or Candidata oeconomices , often abbreviated cand.oecon. is an academic degree in economics at Danish and Norwegian universities. It is roughly equivalent to a Master of Economics, but it consists of 4+2 years, and was based on a four year cand.mag.. The degree was replaced...

 degree in economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

. He was a negiotiator in Akademikernes Fellesorganisasjon from 1981 to 1988, secretary-general in the Norwegian Association of Pharmacists from 1988 to 1989 and director in the Ministry of Government Administration from 1991 to 1995. From 1995 to 2003 he was the Government Director of Personnel

Government Director of Personnel (Norway)

The Government Director of Personnel is a Norwegian position in the civil service.The director leads the Department of Employer Policy within the Norwegian Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs...

, except for some months in 2002 when he was the acting director of Aetat

Aetat

Aetat was a Norwegian Norwegian government agency responsible for battling unemployment.-History:It had its roots in the Directorate of Labour , which was founded in 1945. Its purpose was to "prevent and remedy" unemployment in the Norwegian society. The name Aetat was taken into use in 2000, when...

. In 2003 he became head negotiator for the Confederation of Unions for Professionals.