The main findings of the labour force survey by Statistics Iceland for the third quarter of 2024 show that the activity rate was 83.8% for the age group 16-74 years. Compared with other European countries, this rate is very high. The next closest countries are Sweden, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Switzerland, which generally have activity rate of around 75%.
The number of people aged 16 to 74 who were in the labour market in the third quarter of 2024 was 244,000. Their activity rate, or labour force participation, was, as mentioned earlier, 83.8%, which is 2.8 percentage points higher than in the same quarter of 2023 when the activity rate was 81.0%. Women numbered 108,700 (78.4% activity rate) and men were 135,300 (88.6% activity rate).
The number of employed people in the third quarter of 2024 was 236,800, and the employment rate was 81.3%. In comparison, there were 222,600 employed individuals in the third quarter of 2023, with an employment rate of 78.6%. The employment rate for women was 74.8% and for men 82.0%. The employment rate in the Capital region was 78.4% and 78.8% outside it. From the third quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2024, the number of employed people increased by 14,200, and their share of the population increased by 2.7 percentage points. The employment rate for women was 76.0% and for men 86.1%. The number of employed women increased by 3,900, while the number of employed men increased significantly more, by 10,200. The employment rate in the Capital region was 81.2% and 81.5% in other regions.
Of employed individuals in the third quarter of 2024, about 183,200 were in full-time employment, or 77.4%, and about 53,600 were in part-time employment, or 22.6%. The number of people in full-time employment increased by 10,600 from the third quarter of 2023, but their percentage of the total number of employed remained almost unchanged. Of the employed women, 65.6% were in full-time employment in the third quarter, and 86.8% of the employed men. Among those in part-time employment, about 8,100 persons were considered underemployed, or 3.4% of all employed. The same percentage of employed were underemployed in the same quarter of 2023, but their number was 7,700. The definition of underemployed are those who work part-time and want to work more.
Average working hours
In the third quarter of 2024, the average working hours were measured 38.1 hours per week for those who were at work in the reference week. In comparison, the average working hours were 37.6 hours in the third quarter of 2023, so the average working hours have increased by half an hour per week. In the third quarter of 2024, the average working hours for women were 34.0 hours, while for men it was 40.9 hours. In comparison, women worked an average of 33.8 hours and men 40.6 hours in the third quarter of 2023. The difference in the average working hours between men and women in the third quarter of 2024 was 6.9 hours.
The unemployment rate was 3.0% in the third quarter
The average number of persons in unemployment in the third quarter of 2024 was 7,300 persons, or 3.0% of the total labor force aged 16-74. Among women, the unemployment rate was 3.1%, and among men, it was 2.9%. In comparison, about 6,800 individuals were unemployed in the third quarter of 2023, with the unemployment rate also at 3.0%, the same for both women and men.
Within the age group 16 to 24, the unemployment rate was 8.9%, which is 3.6 percentage points higher than it was in the same quarter of 2023 when it was 5.3%. For the age group 25 to 54, the unemployment rate was 1.7%, which is 1.5 percentage points lower than it was in the third quarter of 2023. For the oldest group, aged 55-74 years, the unemployment rate was 2.9% compared with 1.1% in the third quarter of 2023.