The average number of persons in the labour force was 206,400 in the 4th quarter of 2019 according to the Icelandic Labour Force Survey, or 79.6% of the population. Of these, 6,800 persons were unemployed, or 3.3%. At the same time, about 2,500 jobs were available on the Icelandic labour market, according to Statistics Iceland’s job vacancy survey, or about 1.1% of jobs, according to previously published figures. In comparison 4,900 persons were unemployed in 4th quarter of 2018 which means that unemployment has increased by 0.9 percentage points over the period.
Of those unemployed in the 4th quarter of 2019 around 3,600 persons were unemployed for two months or less, or 52.7% of all who are unemployed. At the same time in the year 2018 around 3,500 had been unemployed for two months or less, or 43.8%.
Long-term unemployment refers to those who have been unemployed for 12 months or more. In the 4th quarter of 2019, 700 persons were long-term unemployed or 10.5% of the total unemployed. In the 4th quarter of 2018 long-term unemployed persons were 500 or 7.5% of the total unemployed.
The number of employed persons in the 4th quarter 2019 was 199,700, or 77.0% of the population. This is an increase of 800 persons compared to the same quarter in 2018. However, the employment rate decreased by 1.6 percentage points for the same period. Number of full time employed increased by 5,400 from previous year. Of employed persons in 2019, 77.2% were full time, which is an increase by 2.4 percentage points from the 4th quarter of 2018.
About 53,000 persons were considered inactive in the 4th quarter of 2019, which is an increase by 3,600 persons. The estimated number of the population 16 to 74 years, increased by 2.5% at the same time, from 253,100 persons to 259,400.
