Unemployment 7.3%
The number of persons in the labour force in the February 2012 was 173,300 which correspond to an activity rate of 77.4%. The number of employed persons was 160,700 and unemployed persons were 12,600. The employment rate was 71.8% and the unemployment rate was 7.3%. The number of unemployed has decreased by 1,100 since February 2011. The number of unemployed was 13,700 in February 2011 and employed persons were 160,600.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment for the last 12 months shows a slight downward trend and shows that employment has been rather stable. The seasonally adjusted data shows that in February 2012 unemployed persons aged 16-74 amounted to 12,700 or 7% compared to 11,700 in January 2012 or 6.5%. The number of seasonally adjusted employed persons in February was 168,700 compared to 167,200 in January 2012.

Implementation
Since 2003 Statistics Iceland has conducted a continuous LFS with quarterly results and the total sample size is around 3,800 individuals in each quarter and the response rate between 80% and 85%. The sampling frame for each LFS is drawn from all Icelandic and foreign citizens in the National Registry who are 16–74 years of age and domiciled in Iceland. Every quarter is divided into 3 months and 13 weeks. Two months count for 4 weeks and one for five. January 2012 is four weeks, from 30th of January to 26th of February. The total sample size for February 2012 was 1,200 persons. When those who had passed away or those who were living abroad had been deducted from the sample the net sample was 1,170 persons. In total the number of usable answers was 976 which correspond to 83.4% response rate. All figures have been weighted by sex and age groups. The confidence limit of the results on activity rate is ±2.7%, unemployment rate is ±1.9% and working hours is ±1.3 hours.

Labour force survey, February 2012 - Statistical Series