The main results of the Labour Force Survey for the second quarter of 2022 show that the Icelandic labour market has improved somewhat from the previous year.
Employment rate increases
The proportion of the population aged 16-74 years on the labour market (activity rate), was 81.6% in the second quarter of 2022, which is an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared with the same quarter in 2021. The total number of employed in the second quarter of 2022 was 210,600 and the employment rate of the population 78.1%. Comparison between the second quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2022 shows that the number of employed increased by 16,100 and the employment rate increased by 4.2 percentage points. The number of employed women increased by 8,900 and men by 7,200. The employment rate for women was measured at 74.8% and for men at 81.1% in the second quarter of 2022.
The employment rate in the Capital region was 78.2% and outside the Capital region the rate was 77.9%. In comparison, the proportion of employed people in the Capital region was 74.9% and 72.1% outside the Capital region in the second quarter of 2021.
Fewer unemployed
The average number of persons in unemployment in the second quarter of 2022 was 9,500 persons, or 4.3% of the labour force 16 to 74 years old. In comparison, 16,700 persons were unemployed in the second quarter of 2021 and the unemployment rate was 7.9%.
Women's unemployment decreased significantly between the years. In the second cuarter quarter of 2022 it was measured at 3.2% and had decreased by 6.1 percentage points from the second quarter of 2021. In the same period, male unemployment decreased from 7.6% to 5.2% or by 2.4 percentage points .
In the second quarter of each year, unemployment is usually the highest compared with the other quarters of the year. This is caused by young people and students entering the labour market in search of summer jobs. Within the age group 16 to 24 years, the unemployment rate was 13.9%, which is a large decrease from the same quarter in 2021 when it was 20.0%. Over the period, unemployment among 25 to 54 year olds decreased by four percentage points, from 6.5% to 2.5%. Unemployment also decreased among those aged 55 to 74 years, or by 0.8 percentage points, from 3.4% in the second quarter of 2021 to 2.5% in the second quarter of 2022.