Employees
13. Dec 2023
Employee number increased 0.8% in the past year
The Faroese labour market consisted of 28,231 employees in November. This is an increase of about 200 on November 2022. Employee numbers have risen steadily since 2021; however, the trend indicates that this growth is coming to a halt.
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The big drop in the graph above occurred in April 2020, shortly after Covid-19 restrictions were introduced.
Relative increase in female employees
Employee numbers increased for both sexes in the past year. In November, there were about 14,500 male and 13,800 female employees, a year-on-year increase of 0.7% for men and 0.9% for women.
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Highest growth in the construction sector
The graphs below show the employee figures and the monthly trends in the four main industrial sectors.
‘Governmental and other services’ has seen steady growth since 2014 when there were about 8,500 employees. This figure has now reached 10,550. The past year saw an increase of 44 employees (0.4%) in this sector.
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Employee figures in ‘Private services’ have been more or less stagnant in the past two years. However, the figure has increased by 81 (0.9%) since November 2022.
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The growth in employee numbers in ‘construction and other manufacturing’ stagnated in 2020 and the total employee number dropped slightly. This number is now recovering, reaching an all-time high this year, rising year-on-year by 152 employees (3.5%).
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Employee numbers in ‘fishery and other natural resources’ tend to fluctuate more than in the other industrial sectors. In the past few years, the number has ranged between 4,100 and 4,200.
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5% drop in fish processing and aquaculture employees
The table below shows employee numbers (November 2022 and November 2023) for each branch within the four main industrial sectors.
The fish processing and aquaculture branches experienced the biggest relative drop in employee numbers, followed by ‘hotels and restaurants’.
‘Health and social work’ saw a 1.5% drop, predominantly due to a six-week nurse strike that started in early October.
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Foreign nationals represented the highest growth in November
Non-Danish citizens made up 86% of the total year-on-year increase of just above 200 employees in November.
The proportion of foreign citizens in the Faroese labour market rose from 7.1% in November 2022 to 7.7% in November 2023.
Non-Danish employees predominantly work in fish processing, hotels and restaurants, aquaculture and household services.
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Workers from outside Europe represent the highest relative growth in the employee figures in recent years. Non-European employees now account for 4.2% of the total labour force compared to 3.6% in November 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.