Almost 200 thousand (199,870) of persons aged 16-74 years were employed in the Icelandic labour market in the second quarter of 2018, according to register data on employment. This is an increase by 11.8% in the last ten years, from the second quarter of 2008 or by 21,016 persons. Compared to the second quarter of 2008, the greatest increase was in accommodation and food service activities (Section I) or 8,428 (97%), while the greatest decrease was in financial and insurance activities (Section K) where the number employed decreased by 28%, from 8,803 to 6,341. Employment in tourism and related activities has increased by 98.5% in the past 10 years while the number of employed in fishing and aquaculture has decreased by 2.9%, from 9,141 persons to 8,875.
Most immigrants work in accommodation and food service activities
More men (53.3%) than women (46.7%) were employed in the Icelandic labour market in the second quarter of 2018. Most men work in section C, manufacturing, or 15,888, while most women, (18,572) work in section Q, i.e. human health service, residential care and social work activities. Section Q has also the highest proportion of women is highest in the work-force, or 79%, while section F, construction has the highest proportion of men or 93.9%. Most immigrants work in accommodation and food service activities (I) while the proportion of employed persons with immigrant status is highest in section of administrative and support service activities (N) or 42.6%, mostly explained by the high number of immigrants working for travel agencies.
Further information
This press release is the first dissemination of the total number of employed persons by sex, immigrant status and economic activity by Statistics Iceland. The data is based on a complete statistical register maintained in Statistics Iceland. The data sources are on one hand the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax register, and on the other from the tax return registers on own-account workers. Employed persons are wage earners and the self-employed, i.e. own-account workers, persons on maternity leave are also considered employed. Economic activity is classified in accordance with the NACE rev. 2 classification.
Statistics Iceland carries out the continuous Labour Force Survey (LFS) collecting information on individuals on the labour market from a large sample of individuals spread over all weeks of the year. The LFS provides data for monthly publications on labour market participation, the number of employed and unemployed persons, as well as quarterly numbers on full- and part time jobs, and hours of work by economic activity. Statistics Iceland also publishes monthly figures on the number of salaried workers based on the PAYE register, and a yearly structural business statistics by economic activity, providing a coherent picture of the state and development of each economic activity.