According to seasonally adjusted figures from the Icelandic Labour Force Survey (IS-LFS) the unemployment rate was 3.3% in January 2022. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 4.9 percentage points between years and has not been this low since March 2020 when restrictions due to the pandemic started to affect the Icelandic labour market.
Seasonally adjusted activity rate was measured at 79.3% in January 2022 and the employment rate 76.7%. The unemployment rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points between months while the employment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points. Seasonally adjusted trend of unemployment was 4.3% in January 2022 and has decreased by 0.8 percentage points over the last six months while the seasonally adjusted trend of employment increased by 0.6 percentage points.
Based on unadjusted measures, the number of 16-74 year olds active in the labour market was estimated to be 211,800 (±7,000) in January 2022, which is equivalent to 79.1% (±2.6) activity rate. Of the labour force, 204,800 (±5,900) were employed and 7,000 (±2,500) unemployed and looking for a job. The employment rate was estimated to be 76.5% (±2.9) and the unemployment rate 3.3% (±1.2). Compared with January 2021 the employment rate has increased by 7 percentage points and the unemployment rate decreased by 5.3 percentage points. Employed persons worked 34.6 (±1.2) hours on average per week in January 2022 which is 1.9 hours less than in January 2021.
It was estimated that 28,500 individuals had unmet need for employment (labour market slack) in January 2022, which corresponds to 12.9% of the labour force and potential labour force. Of those individuals, 24.6% were unemployed, 24.9% willing to work but not looking, 7.3% in search of a job but not ready to work and 43.1% underemployed part-time workers (working part-time and wanting to work more). Compared with January 2021, the labour market slack has decreased by 3.4 percentage points between years. The seasonally adjusted trend of the labour market slack has decreased by 0.8 percentage points over the last six months.
Please note that the sum of sub-items might be inconsistent with the overall results due to rounding.
About the data
The Icelandic Labour Force Survey for January 2022 covers four weeks, from 3 January through 30 January 2022. The sample consisted of 1,520 individuals, 16-74 years old with legal residence in Iceland. Excluding those from the sample who were living abroad or deceased, the net sample consisted of 1,489 individuals. Usable answers were obtained fom 928 individuals which corresponds to a 62.3% response rate.