Unemployment holds at 4% in July

Registered unemployment in Iceland stood at 4% in July, unchanged from June, mbl.is reported. The rate was 3.4% in July last year.

An average of 8,423 people were unemployed during the month, including 4,920 men and 3,502 women. The number of unemployed people fell by 90 from the previous month.

Unemployment was highest in Suðurnes, at 5.5%, and lowest in Northwest Iceland, at 1.2%. In Suðurnes, the rate fell by 0.3 percentage points from June, from 5.8% to 5.5%, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decline.

Unemployment stood at 4.5% in the capital region and averaged 3.2% elsewhere in the country.

At the end of July, 8,640 people were registered as unemployed, including 4,981 men and 3,659 women. The number of unemployed men fell by 266 from the end of June, while the number of unemployed women fell by 67. A total of 2,165 people aged 18 to 29 were unemployed, down by 109 from the end of June.

The number of people who had been unemployed for more than 12 months rose slightly year on year. At the end of July, 1,565 jobseekers had been unemployed for more than a year, compared with 1,548 in July last year.

Foreign nationals account for 53% of registered unemployed

Foreign nationals made up 53% of those registered as unemployed at the end of July. There were 4,600 unemployed foreign jobseekers, 286 fewer than at the end of June.

Unemployment among foreign nationals was 7.9% in July, compared with 2.5% among Icelandic citizens. Polish citizens formed the largest group of foreign jobseekers, numbering 1,797, or about 39% of the total.

In July, 197 new jobs were added to the Directorate of Labour’s employment service. Of these, 152 were linked to employment grants. About 62% of the jobs were in the capital region, 12% in Northeast Iceland and 10% in Suðurnes.

The Directorate of Labour forecasts that unemployment will remain stable in August, at between 3.9% and 4%.