As the economy continues to boom the number of people without work continues to drop and the labour participation rate continues to rise. But despite long hours worked by each worker and more people in the labour market the Icelandic economy has been forced to meet the need for labour by importing workers from abroad. In April nearly 11% of the labour force was made up of foreign nationals.
Low unemployment rate, long hours
According to data from Statistics Iceland the number of people in the labour force in the 1st quarter of 2017 was 197,100, which translates to a labour participation rate of 82.7%. Out of these only 2.9% or 5,600 were without work. The unemployment rate has dropped by 0.4% since the first quarter of 2016.
The average number of working hours of people who were fully employed was 45.4 hours, which translates either to a workweek of 5.7 days or 9.08 hours per day for a five day work-week. People in part-time jobs worked on average 23 hours each week.
Long-term unemployment continues to drop
The Directorate of Labour, which measures unemployment slightly differently than Statistics Iceland, reports (pdf) that the unemployment rate in April was 2.1%, a drop of 0.4% since April 2016. The overwhelming majority of those without work had been unemployed for less than 2 months. Just 838 people have been unemployed for more than 12 months, compared to 1,068 in April 2016.
Foreign nationals nearly 11% of the labour force
The Directorate of labour, which tracks the number of foreign nationals working in Iceland, reports that 21,000 foreign nationals were either looking for work or working in Iceland in April 2017. This represents 10.6% of the total labour force. The share of foreign workers of the labour force has been increasing steadily in the past few years.
The reason for the growing numbers of foreign workers is that the domestic labour force cannot keep up with the growing economy. Icelandic employers have been forced to look abroad to fill openings. The largest group of foreign workers in Iceland are Polish nationals, most of whom are working in construction and the service industries. Large numbers of temporary workers from other European countries are also working in the tourism industry.
As the economy continues to boom the number of people without work continues to drop and the labour participation rate continues to rise. But despite long hours worked by each worker and more people in the labour market the Icelandic economy has been forced to meet the need for labour by importing workers from abroad. In April nearly 11% of the labour force was made up of foreign nationals.
Low unemployment rate, long hours
According to data from Statistics Iceland the number of people in the labour force in the 1st quarter of 2017 was 197,100, which translates to a labour participation rate of 82.7%. Out of these only 2.9% or 5,600 were without work. The unemployment rate has dropped by 0.4% since the first quarter of 2016.
The average number of working hours of people who were fully employed was 45.4 hours, which translates either to a workweek of 5.7 days or 9.08 hours per day for a five day work-week. People in part-time jobs worked on average 23 hours each week.
Long-term unemployment continues to drop
The Directorate of Labour, which measures unemployment slightly differently than Statistics Iceland, reports (pdf) that the unemployment rate in April was 2.1%, a drop of 0.4% since April 2016. The overwhelming majority of those without work had been unemployed for less than 2 months. Just 838 people have been unemployed for more than 12 months, compared to 1,068 in April 2016.
Foreign nationals nearly 11% of the labour force
The Directorate of labour, which tracks the number of foreign nationals working in Iceland, reports that 21,000 foreign nationals were either looking for work or working in Iceland in April 2017. This represents 10.6% of the total labour force. The share of foreign workers of the labour force has been increasing steadily in the past few years.
The reason for the growing numbers of foreign workers is that the domestic labour force cannot keep up with the growing economy. Icelandic employers have been forced to look abroad to fill openings. The largest group of foreign workers in Iceland are Polish nationals, most of whom are working in construction and the service industries. Large numbers of temporary workers from other European countries are also working in the tourism industry.
