During the 12 month period from April 2016 to March 2017, the average total number of employers in Iceland was 16,970 and the average number of employees was 181,900. This is an increase of 754 (4.7%) employers and 8,300 (4.8%) employees compared to the period from April 2015 to March 2016.
It should be noted that these figures do not include information on the self-employed with calculated remuneration, a setup common in construction, agriculture and creative industries.
| Table 1: Number of employers and employees in selected activities¹ | |||||
| Employers | Employees March | ||||
| March | |||||
| 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | Change | % | |
| All activities | 16,035 | 171,200 | 177,100 | 5,900 | 3 |
| Fisheries | 466 | 9,700 | 8,500 | -1,200 | -12 |
| Manufacturing except fish processing | 1,004 | 16,300 | 16,200 | -100 | 0 |
| Construction | 2,368 | 9,600 | 10,900 | 1,200 | 13 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 2,227 | 24,900 | 25,900 | 1,000 | 4 |
| Financial and insurance activities | 360 | 6,300 | 6,200 | -100 | -2 |
| Public administration, compulsory social security and education | 549 | 39,200 | 39,700 | 500 | 1 |
| Human health and social work activities | 1,061 | 15,200 | 15,600 | 400 | 3 |
| Tourism industries | 1,547 | 21,100 | 24,000 | 2,800 | 13 |
| High technology manufacturing and services | 849 | 12,800 | 12,800 | 0 | 0 |
| Creative industries | 1,447 | 9,100 | 9,000 | -100 | -1 |
| ¹ A detailed description of theese activities can be found in the metadata | |||||
Sources of error and revision of statistics
The aforementioned figures are preliminary. Having income data as the source, there is a chance of underestimating the latest figures when employers do not submit their information in a timely manner. Other causes of error include reimbursement to former employees. When new data are published, previous figures are revised. For more information on how figures are revised and the magnitude of recent revisions, please refer to the metadata and the summary of revisions.
Statistics on employers and employees previously published have been revised, taking into account the latest available information on salaries and classification of employers based on economic activities.
The number of employers in February 2016 is now estimated as 16,595 and the total number of employees is estimated as 176,700. The number of employees increased by 6,700 (3.9%) from February 2016 to February 2017.
In April 2017, the number of employers and employees in February 2017 were estimated as 16.337 and 176.000, respectively. The number of employees had previously been estimated to have increased by 6,000 (4%) from February 2016 to February 2017.
Statistics