Employees
11. Mar 2022
27,200 employees in February — a 0.8% growth on 2021
The growth in the number of employees has been limited during the past two years. Having been impacted significantly by the pandemic, the trend now indicates a returning positive growth.
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The graph above shows the employee figure plummet in April 2020, which was the first full month after the Covid-19 outbreak.
Rising number of men and women in the workforce
The graph below shows the employee number for both sexes. The semi-transparent lines show the employee number, and the solid lines show the trend.
In February 2022, the Faroese work force consisted of approximately 13,900 male and 13,300 female employees. This is a year-on-year increase of around 50 men and 200 women.
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The trend for the industrial sectors
Compared to the other sectors, ‘fishery and other natural resources’ has seen a more highly fluctuating number of employees, although, since the drop in 2011, the figure has been rising. During this period, the figure for this sector has increased by approx. 600, from 3,500 to 4,100 employees.
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The table below shows the number of employees for each branch under the main industrial sectors from February 2021 to February 2022.
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About employees
An employee is anyone aged between 16 and 74 who earns a wage that is subject to tax at source (PAYE) and resides in the Faroe Islands at the time of wage payment. A person is regarded as an employee if he or she receives a wage payment which is no lower than a day wage for an unskilled worker, regardless of whether the wage is paid by a Faroese or an overseas company.
About the trend
The trend describes the employee trend by adjusting for seasonal effects and error components in the figures.
About the main industrial sectors
Grouped under the ‘fishery and other natural resources’ sector are the following branches: agriculture, fishing, aquaculture, extraction of raw materials, fish processing and activities not elsewhere indicated.
The ‘construction and other manufacturing’ sector includes: shipyards/machine shops, other manufacturing, construction and energy.
The ‘private services’ sector includes: trade and repair, hotels and restaurants, sea transport, other transport, communications, finance and insurance, business services. household services and organisations, culture, etc.
‘Governmental and other services’ includes: public administration and services (central administration, municipalities, education, health and social work), government institutions and the Ministries of Education and Health.