Employees
13. Sep 2022
27,600 employees in August – a 1% increase on August 2021
The trend in the graph below reveals limited growth over the past two years due to the pandemic.
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The big drop in the graph above occurred in April 2020, shortly after Covid-19 restrictions were introduced.
Increase in both male and female employees
The graph below shows employee numbers for each sex. The semi-transparent lines track the employee numbers, while the solid lines show the trend.
In August, there were about 14,100 male and 13,500 female employees, a year-on-year increase of about 130 for both sexes.
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The trends in each main industrial sector
The two graphs below show the employee figures and the trends in the four main industrial sectors.
The ‘governmental and other services’ and the ‘private services’ sectors have seen steady growth in recent years.
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The ‘construction and other manufacturing’ sector saw a drop in employee numbers in 2020 after many years of steady growth. The number stagnated somewhat in 2021, but it has decreased again this year.
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Employee numbers in the ‘Fishery and other natural resources’ sector tend to fluctuate more than in the other industrial sectors; nevertheless, there has been a clear increase since the low point in 2011. The employee number in this sector has increased from 3,500 in 2011 to about 4,200 in August 2022.
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The table below shows employee numbers (August 2021 and August 2022) for each industry branch within the four main industrial sectors.
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Relative increase in employees with non-Danish citizenship
In August, 6.3% of employees had non-Danish citizenship, up from 5.0% in August 2021. Ten years ago, 2.4% of employees had non-Danish citizenship.
Non-Danish employees predominantly work in fish processing, hotels and restaurants, aquaculture and household services
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The number of non-European employees now represents 3.2% of the total labour force, compared with 2.3% in August 2021.
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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.