The main results of the Labour force survey of Statistics Iceland for the first quarter of 2026 show that an average of 234,900 people aged 16 to 74 were in the labour force. Of these, 217,800 were employed, and 17,100 were unemployed and actively seeking work. The activity rate was 80.3%, the employment rate was 74.4%, and the unemployment rate was 7.3% of the total labour force aged 16 to 74.
In the first quarter of 2026, 100,500 women were employed, or 71.1%, while 117,300 men were employed, or 77.5%. On average, 195,000 persons were at work in the reference week of the quarter, representing 89.5% of employed persons and 66.6% of the total population aged 16 to 74. The average number of total working hours per week was 36.6 hours among those who were at work in the reference week, 41.2 hours among those in full-time employment, and 21.5 hours for those in part-time employment.
Compared with the first quarter of 2025, the number of employed people decreased by 2,700, and the employment rate decreased by 2.1 percentage points. The number of employed women decreased by 1,200, while employed men decreased by 400. The employment rate of women decreased year on year by 2.6 percentage points, while the employment rate of men fell by 1.6 percentage points.
Of those employed in the first quarter of 2026, an estimated 163,800 were in full‑time employment, or 75.2%, while around 54,000 were in part‑time employment, or 24.8%. The number of people in full-time employment increased by one thousand compared with the first quarter of 2025, and their share of total employment rose by 1.4 percentage points. Among employed women, 66.0% were in full-time employment in the first quarter, compared with 83.1% of employed men. Of those in part-time employment, around 11,000 individuals were underemployed, accounting for 5.1% of total employment. In the same quarter of 2025, the underemployment rate was 4.8%, corresponding to approximately 10,700 individuals. The definition underemployed persons are those in part-time employment who both are able and willing to work more hours than they currently do.
Average working hours
In the first quarter of 2026, the average working hours were measured 36.6 hours for those who were were at work in the reference week. For comparison, the average number of working hours was 35.7 hours in the first quarter of 2025, meaning the average weekly working hours rose by nearly one hour per week. In the first quarter of 2026, women worked an average of 32.9 hours per week, while men worked 39.7 hours. In the same quarter of 2025, women worked an average of 32.1 hours and men 38.7 hours.
The unemployment rate was 7,5%
In the first quarter of 2026, an average of 17,100 persons were unemployed, or 7.5% of the total labour force aged 16 to 74. The unemployment rate measured at 7.0% among women and 7.5% among men. For comparison, around 11,500 persons were unemployed in the first quarter of 2025, their share of the labour force was lower than at present, at 5.0%. The unemployment rate among women was 4.8%, compared with 5.1% among men.
Within the age group 16 to 24, the unemployment rate was 18.0%, compared with 12.2% in the same quarter of 2025. In the age group 25 to 54 years, unemployment measured 6.2%, which is an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the first quarter of 2025. Among the oldest age group, 55 to 74 years, the unemployment rate was 2.6%, compared with 1.9% in the first quarter of the previous year.
The Icelandic Labour force survey
Since 2003, the Labour market survey has been conducted continuously in every week of the year. In each quarter, the sample consists of just over 5,000 persons, distributed evenly across the 13 weeks of the quarter. The survey population includes all Icelandic and foreign citizens aged 16 to 74 who are registered in the Population Register, have legal residence in Iceland, and are living in the country during the reference week of the survey. In the first quarter of 2026, 5,353 individuals met these criteria and were included in the final sample, corresponding to 1.8% of the population. A total of 2,811 persons responded to the survey, yielding a participation rate of 52.5%. The response rate among women was 51.1%, while the response rate among men was 53.8%.