In the year 2021, there were on average 208,400 persons 16-74 years old active in the Icelandic labour market, which corresponds to a 78.8% activity rate. The activity rate for women was 75.1% and for men 82.3%. The labour force increased by 6,200 from the year 2020 and the activity rate increased by 1.4 percentage points.
The number of employed persons in 2021 was on average 195,900 and there were on average 6,800 more employed persons in 2021 than in 2020. The employment rate was 74.1% compared with 72.4% in 2020. The employment rate for women was 70.3% and the employment rate for men 77.6%.
On average, 12,500 people were unemployed and looking for work in the year 2021 or 6.0% of the labour force compared with 2020 when the unemployed were 13,000 on average or 6.4% of the labour force. In the year 2021, the unemployment rate was on average 6.4% for women and 5.6% for men.
Total actual hours decreased considerably
In 2021, actual working hours per week were on average 36.7 hours compared with 38 hours in 2020. Actual hours for women were on average 32.4 in the year 2021 and for men 40.2 hours.
When looking at the development of working hours since the beginning of the continuous Labour Force Survey in 2003, it is evident that the total actual hours of employed people have decreased considerably, or by near 42 hours initially down to almost 37 hours in 2021. The same story can be said about working hours of both women and men, but if anything, men's working hours have shortened more than women's.
In 2021, usual working hours were on average 38.2 hours per week, which is about one and a half hours more than the average number of actual hours in a reference week.
Before 2020, the difference was usually in the other direction, as estimated actual hours were higher for a given week than usual hours. A possible explanation for this changed pattern of results is that people's experience of a shorter working week has not filtered in since it was recently introduced to a large part of the labour force. The Covid-19 pandemic can also influence this. Finally, it cannot be ruled out that there can be an effect due to changes in the wording of questions on working hours as more questions are now focused on the organisation of people's working hours than before.
Of all in employment, 17.2% worked on average less than 30 hours a week, which is almost the same as the year before. What changed in 2021 compared with previous years is that far fewer people than before worked a 40-hour week, which is still the most common length of the working week. The proportion of those who work 50 hours or more on average has fallen sharply in recent years, from 14.2% in 2021, compared with 19.6% in 2013 and 27.3% in 2003.
The number of normal working hours is still different by sex. In 2021, on average, 24.9% of women worked less than 30 hours per week compared with 10.6% of men and 34.3% of women worked 30-39 hours compared with 17.6% of men. In 24.8% of cases, women work 40 hours a week while 28.1% of men do. When looking at normal working hours over 40 hours, men are in vast majority of that group, but 22.1% of them work 41-49 hours a week compared with 10.3% of women. About 21.5% of men typically work 50 hours or more a week compared with 5.7% of women.
Overtime worked has shortened
In the Labour Force Survey, persons who worked during the reference week were asked whether they had worked overtime. In the year 2021, an average of 29.5% of all at work during the reference week worked overtime. Fewer women (23.5%) worked overtime than men (34.4%). In comparison, 22.6% worked overtime in 2020, 18.4% of women and 25.9% of men. Since the continuous Icelandic Labour Force Survey began in 2003, it can be said that the overtime worked has shortened.