According to seasonally adjusted estimates from the Icelandic Labour Force Survey, the number of people in the labour force was 210,000 in March 2019. This corresponds to an 82.7% activity rate, which is 1.9 percentage points higher than in February. The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed persons in March 2019 was estimated to be 6,200 or 2.9%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from February. The seasonally adjusted employment rate for March was 80.2%, which is a increase of 2.1 percentage points from the month before.

The seasonally adjusted trend over the last six months shows that the activity rate stayed the same and the employment rate decreased slightly or by 0.1 percentage point. On the other hand unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points. The unadjusted measures from the Icelandic Labour Force Survey show that 208,400 persons 16 to 74 years old belonged to the labour force in March 2019, setting the activity rate at 81.8% (±2.4). Thereof, 202,500 (±6,600) persons were employed and 6,000 (±2,900) persons were unemployed. The proportion of the population who were employed was 79.5% (±2.6), while the unemployment rate was 2.9% (±1.4).

Comparison between March 2018 and 2019 shows that the number of people in the labour force increased by 5,300 and its proportion of the population increased by 0.4 percentage points. The number of employed persons increased by 4,000, but the rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point.

The number of unemployed increased by 1,400 in March 2019 compared with March 2018 when they were 4,600 or 2.3% of the labour force. In total, there were 46,300 inactive persons in the population in March 2019, which is the same number as in March 2018.

Flow Chart — Labour force 16–74 years — March 2018 measures

Figures may not add up because of rounding. CI (95%) Unemployment rate: Total ±1.4; males ±2.2; females ±1.7.

About the data
March 2019 is divided into four weeks, from March 4th to March 31st 2019. The total sample size for the Labour Force Survey in March was 1,532 persons 16–74 years old who were randomly selected from the registered population. When individuals out of scope had been removed from the sample, the net sample was 1,499 persons. In total, the number of responses was 940 individuals corresponding to a response rate of 62.7%.

It should be noted that all numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred, and results are weighted by sex and age groups.

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