The main results of the Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2022 show that the Icelandic labour market has improved somewhat from the previous year. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that the employment rate increased while the unemployment rate has decreased.
The proportion of the population aged 16-74 years in the labour market (activity rate), was 79.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022, which is an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared with the same quarter in 2021. The total number of employed in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 212,400 and the employment rate of the population 76.9%. Comparison between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2022 shows that the number of employed increased by 11,900 and the employment rate increased by 1.8 percentage points. The number of employed women increased by 6,000 and men by 5,700. The employment rate for women was measured at 74,7% and for men at 79.0% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The employment rate in the Capital region was 77.7% and outside the Capital region the rate was 75.5%.
In comparison, 200,500 were employed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the proportion of the population was 75.1%. At that time, the proportion of employed women was 72.1% and 77.9% for men. The employment rate in the Capital region was 75.8% and 73.8 for those living outside the region.
Of employed individuals in the fourth quarter of 2022 the number of people working full-time was 156,600 or 73.7% and 55,700 were working part-time or 26.3%. Although the number of people in full-time employment increased by 9,500 from the fourth quarter of 2021, their percentage of employed people only increased by 0.4 percentage points. Of employed women, 62.6% worked full-time jobs in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 83.5% of employed men. Of those who worked part-time in the fourth quarter of 2022, 7,100 were underemployed. For comparison, 9,300 people were considered underemployed in the same quarter of 2021 or 4.6. The definition of underemployed are those who work part-time and want to work more.
Little or no change in working hours
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the average working hours was measured 36.1 hours per week for those who were at work in the reference week, 32.8 hours for women and 38.9 hours for men. In comparison, the average number of hours worked in the fourth quarter of 2021 was exactly the same as the average number in the fourth quarter of 2022. Women worked an average of 31.5 hours and men an average of 39.9 hours. Women therefore worked on average 1.3 hours more now than in the fourth quarter of 2021, while men worked one hour less.
Fewer unemployed
The average number of persons in unemployment in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 7,200 persons, or 3.3% of the labour force 16 to 74 years old. The unemployment rate for women was 2.5% and for men 3.9%. In comparison, 9,300 persons were unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the unemployment rate was 4.4%. Unemployment rate among women was then 3.6% and 5.1% among men.
Within the age group 16 to 24 years, the unemployment rate was 5.8%, which is a decrease from the same quarter in 2021 when it was 7.8% or by two percentage points. Over the period unemployment among 25 to 54 year olds decreased by 0.8 percentage points, from 4.1% to 3.3%. Unemployment also decreased among those aged 55 to 74 years, or by 1.8 percentage points, from 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022.