The main results of the Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2021 show that the Icelandic labour market has improved somewhat from the previous year. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that the employment rate has increased and the unemployment rate has decreased.
The proportion of the population aged 16-74 years in the labour market (activity rate), was 78.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021, which is an increase of 2.5 percentage points compared with the same quarter in 2020. The total number of employed in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 200,500 and the employment rate of the population 75.1%. Comparison between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2021 shows that the number of employed increased by 16,100 and the employment rate increased by 4.8 percentage points. The number of employed women increased by 7,200 and men by 8,900. The employment rate for women was measured at 72.1% and for men at 77.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021. The employment rate in the Capital region was 75.8% and outside the Capital region the rate was 73.8%.
In comparison, 184,400 were employed in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the proportion of the population was 70.3%. At that time, the proportion of employed women was 67.7% and 72.7% for men. Lastly, the employment rate for individuals living in the Capital region was then 70.6% and 69.8 for those living outside the region.
Of employed individuals in the fourth quarter of 2021 the number of people working full-time was 47,100 or 73.4% and 53,400 were working part-time or 26.6%. Individuals working full-time jobs increased by 10,100 from the fourth quarter of 2020 and the number of individuals working part-time jobs increased by 6,100. Of employed women, 60.8% worked full-time jobs in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 80.4% of employed men. Of those who worked part-time in the fourth quarter of 2021, 9,300 or 4.5% of all employed individuals were underemployed. The definition of underemployed are those who work part-time and want to work more.
Considerable absence of employed individuals the whole week
In the fourth quarter of 2021 there were around 22,600 employed individuals absent from work in the reference week for the quarter, or 11.3% of all employed. This is a considerable difference from the fourth quarter of 2020 when 15,500 individuals, or 8.4% were absent from work. The rate has in fact never been higher in the fourth quarter. As can be seen below, absence from work was also relatively high in the third quarter of 2021, or around 24%. Please note that the absence applies for the whole reference week.
The main reason for absence is usually some kind of holiday and people's illness, though it can be assumed that Covid-19 had a considerable effect on all reasons of absence, whether in the case of sick leave or due to changes in work organisation. The increase in births in Iceland is likely to have influenced absence due to maternity/paternity leave.
Reduction of working hours
In the fourth quarter of 2021 the average working hours was measured 36.1 hours per week for those who were at work in the reference week, 31.6 hours for women and 39.9 hours for men. In comparison, the average working hours were 37.9 hours in the fourth quarter of 2020, 34.1 for women and 41.1 for men.
Therefore, total working hours per week are significantly less than they were in the same quarter of 2020 and working hours for both women and men decreased by near two hours per week. In the fourth quarter of 2021 working hours for women where on average two and a half hours shorter than in the same quarter of 2020 and 1.2 hours less for men.
All those in employment were asked about the usual hours, that is how many hours they work in a typical week regardless of whether they were at work in the reference week or not. When usual hours are examined, it shows that the actual hours are also fewer than usual hours, but on average people estimate that they usually work about 37.7 hours in what can be called a typical week.
If individuals state that actual working hours are less than the usual hours, they are asked further about the main reasons, as can be seen in the table below. Although Covid-19 is in some cases specifically mentioned from the first quarter of 2020, it does not mean that the pandemic did not affect the other reasons mentioned.
Fewer unemployed
The average number of persons in unemployment in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 9,300 persons, or 4.4% of the labour force 16 to 74 years old. The unemployment rate for women was 3.6% and for men 5.1%. In comparison, 15,100 persons were unemployed in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the unemployment rate was 7.6%.
Within the age group 16 to 24 years, the unemployment rate was 7.8%, which is a decrease from the same quarter in 2020 when it was 10.1% or by 2.3 percentage points. Over the period unemployment among 25 to 54 year olds decreased by 4.2 percentage points, from 8.3% to 4.1%. Unemployment also decreased among those aged 55 to 74 years, or by 0.8 percentage points, from 4.1% in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021.