Employees
11. Mar 2020
Growth in number of employees slowing down
In December 2019, there were around 28,060 employees in the country, an increase of 600 from December 2018.
The trend suggests that while the number of employees is continuing to grow, this growth is slowing down, especially in the past year.
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The graph below shows figures for employees. The semi-transparent lines show employees in numbers, and the solid lines show the trend based on gender.
In December, there were approx. 14,600 men and 13,450 women (52% and 48%) in employment. The growth has slowed down for both genders.
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The graphs below show the employee figures (semi-transparent lines) and the trend in the four main industrial sectors. The first graph shows the two largest sectors, and the second shows the two smallest.
In the past year, there has been little or no growth in the employee figures in the private services sector. The growth in this sector started to slow down more than two years ago.
The other main industrial sectors experienced growth in the number of employees.
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Why is there a two-month lag?
All persons who are paid a wage in the registered month are regarded as employees. Some occupation groups, such as sailors, have less regular wage payments than others, for instance being paid every two months, will still be considered as receiving monthly payments. A two month lag (taka makes it possible to determine how to include irregularly paid persons in the registered period’s calculations.
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.