The main results of the Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2023 show that the Icelandic labour market has, as in the second quarter, remained relatively stable between years.
The proportion of the population aged 16-74 years in the labour market (activity rate), was 81.0% in the third quarter of 2023, which is near the same as it was in the same quarter of 2022 when it measured 79.8%. The total number of employed in the third quarter of 2023 was 222,600 and the employment rate of the population 78.6%.
Comparison between the third quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023 shows that the number of employed increased by 12,200 and the employment rate increased by 1.4 percentage points. The number of employed women increased by 4,400 and men by 7,800. The employment rate for women was measured at 74,8% and for men at 82.0% in the third quarter of 2023. The employment rate in the Capital region was 78.4% and outside the Capital region the rate was 78.8%.
In comparison, 210,400 were employed in the third quarter of 2022 and the proportion of the population was 71.1%. At that time, the employment rate for women was 73.7% and 80.3% for men. The employment rate in the Capital region was 77.9% and 75.8 for those living outside the region.
Of employed individuals in the third quarter of 2023 the number of people working full-time was 172,600 or 77.5% and 50,000 were working part-time or 22.5%. The number of people in full-time employment increased by 11,100 from the third quarter of 2022 and their percentage of employed people increased by 0.8 of a percentage point. Of employed women, 68.7% worked full-time jobs in the third quarter of 2023 and 84.9% of employed men. Of those who worked part-time in the third quarter of 2023, 7,700 were underemployed or 3.4% of all employed. For comparison, 7,600 people were considered underemployed in the same quarter of 2022 or 3.6%. The definition of underemployed are those who work part-time and want to work more.
Average working hours
In the third quarter of 2023, the average working hours was measured 37.6 hours per week for those who were at work in the reference week, 33.8 hours for women and 40.6 hours for men. In comparison, the average number of hours worked was 37.5 in the third quarter of 2022. Women worked an average of 33.6 hours and men worked 40.6 hours on average. Overall, people spent an average of 36 minutes less at work in the third quarter of 2023 than they did in the same quarter of 2022. This applies to both men and women. When compairing these two quarters the difference in the working hours of employed people has changed little or nothing.
Three percent unemployment rate in the third quarter
The average number of persons in unemployment in the third quarter of 2023 was 6,800 persons, or 3.0% of the labour force 16 to 74 years old. The unemployment rate for women was 3.1% and for men 2.9%. In comparison, 7,100 persons were unemployed in the third quarter of 2022 and the unemployment rate was 3.3%. Unemployment rate amongst women was then 3.5% and 3.1% amongst men.
Within the age group 16 to 24 years, the unemployment rate was 6.8%, which is an increase from what it was in the same quarter in 2022 when it was 3.7%. For those 25 to 54 year olds the unemployment rate was 2.7% which is about a percentage point lower than it was in the third quarter of 2022. For the oldest group, 55-74 years old, unemployment rate was one percent compared with two percent in the third quarter of 2022