According to seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Iceland's labor force survey, 8,200 people were unemployed in November, or 4.3%, of the labour force. This is 0.7 percentage points higher than in October. Seasonally adjusted employment was 79.4%, which is about 2.6 percentage points lower than in October, while the seasonally adjusted percentage of employed persons was 77.2%.
Although seasonally adjusted unemployment trends have generally been stable in recent quarters, an increase may be seen in the last six months from 3.4% in June to 3.8% in November. The trend for the employment rate is still somewhat lower than in June, or by 1.3 percentage points, while the trend for employment participation is about 0.9 percentage point lower than in June.
According to unadjusted measures, it is estimated that around 201,300 people aged 16-74 years were on the labour market in November 2019. This is equivalent to 77.8% (± 2.5) of labour force participation. Of the workforce, 194,100 (± 4,500) were found to be employed and 7,200 (± 1,300) were unemployed and looking for work. The proportion of those employed of the total population was 75.1% (± 2.9) and the proportion of those unemployed of the labour force was 3.6% (± 1.3).
Since November 2018, unemployment has increased by 0.7 percentage points while the labour force participation rate has decreased by 3.0 percentage points and the employment rate by 3.5 percentage points.
All counts are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Flow Chart — Labour force 16–74 years — November 2019 unadjusted measures
| Table 1. Labour market in November — unadjusted measures | ||||||
| CI | CI | CI | ||||
| 2017 | (±95%) | 2018 | (±95%) | 2019 | (±95%) | |
| Total 16–74 years | ||||||
| Activity rate | 80.4 | 2.4 | 80.8 | 2.6 | 77.8 | 2.5 |
| Employment rate | 79.0 | 2.5 | 78.5 | 2.8 | 75.1 | 2.9 |
| Unemployment rat | 1.8 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 3.6 | 1.3 |
| Hours of work | 39.2 | 1.1 | 38.8 | 1.0 | 40.1 | 1.0 |
| Labour force | 197,800 | 6,000 | 204,900 | 3,400 | 201,300 | 5,000 |
| Employed | 194,300 | 6,200 | 199,000 | 3,400 | 194,100 | 4,500 |
| Unemployed | 3,500 | 1,800 | 5,900 | 2,500 | 7,200 | 1,300 |
| Inactive | 48,200 | 6,000 | 48,600 | 5,400 | 57,300 | 4,100 |
| Est. population | 245,900 | • | 253,500 | • | 258,700 | • |
| Table 2. Labour market last 6 months — seasonal adjustment | ||||||
| Jun-19 | Jul-19 | Aug-19 | Sep-19 | Oct-19 | Nov-19 | |
| Total 16–74 years | ||||||
| Activity rate | 81.4 | 81.2 | 80.0 | 81.5 | 82.0 | 79.4 |
| Employment rate | 78.7 | 78.7 | 76.9 | 77.6 | 78.3 | 77.2 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.3 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 4.3 |
| Hours of work | 39.0 | 38.9 | 39.6 | 40.7 | 40.5 | 40.3 |
| Labour force | 207,500 | 207,800 | 205,000 | 207,800 | 210,300 | 205,800 |
| Employed | 200,700 | 201,300 | 195,500 | 199,200 | 201,800 | 197,900 |
| Unemployed | 6,800 | 6,500 | 8,500 | 7,100 | 7,400 | 8,200 |
| Inactive | 47,500 | 48,100 | 52,300 | 49,500 | 47,100 | 52,600 |
| Est. population | 255,000 | 255,900 | 256,800 | 257,200 | 257,800 | 258,400 |
| Table 3. Labour market last 6 months — seasonal adjustment trend | ||||||
| Jun-19 | Jul-19 | Aug-19 | Sep-19 | Oct-19 | Nov-19 | |
| Total 16–74 years | ||||||
| Activity rate | 81.4 | 81.4 | 80.3 | 80.7 | 81.3 | 80.5 |
| Employment rate | 78.7 | 78.6 | 77.3 | 77.4 | 78.1 | 77.4 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| Hours of work | 39.3 | 39.2 | 39.9 | 39.7 | 40.2 | 40.2 |
| Labour force | 208,100 | 208,000 | 207,600 | 208,200 | 209,500 | 208,400 |
| Employed | 201,000 | 200,900 | 198,900 | 201,000 | 201,700 | 200,800 |
| Unemployed | 7,100 | 7,000 | 7,100 | 7,100 | 7,300 | 9,200 |
| Inactive | 47,400 | 47,600 | 49,800 | 48,400 | 48,000 | 49,900 |
| Est. population | 255,500 | 255,600 | 256,800 | 257,300 | 257,800 | 258,400 |
About the data
The labour force survey in November 2019 covers four weeks, from November 3 to November 30, 2019. A random sample of 1,539 persons aged 16–74 years who were domiciled in Iceland were randomly selected from tha National Registry. Excluding those who were deceased or residing abroad, the net sample was 1,502 individuals. A total of usable answers were obtained from 968 individuals, which corresponds to a response rate of 64.5%.
Due to revisions of the production process of the labour force survey, figures for July, August, September and October have not been temporarily disaggregated. Hence, these figures are preliminary until further notice.