Unemployment
25. Oct 2024
Unemployment at 0.8% in September
Unemployed people are registered as unemployed with the Faroese unemployment system or the social welfare services, fully available to the labour market and actively seeking work.
In September, the unemployment rate was 0.8%, equivalent to 256 full-time unemployed people. In September 2023, the rate was 0.7%, with 210 full-time unemployed people.
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A full-time unemployed person is defined as one who is unemployed throughout a full month. If two persons are affected by unemployment for half a month each, they are converted to one full-time unemployed person for the month in question. In September, 318 people were affected by unemployment, an increase of 84 compared with September 2023.
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Increased unemployment rate for men
There were 153 full-time unemployed men in September, equivalent to 0.9%. This is a year-on-year increase of 0.2 percentage points. The September 2024 unemployment rate for women was the same as a year ago, at 0.7%, with 103 full-time unemployed women, an increase of 10 on September 2023.
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Highest unemployment rate in Suðuroy
The map below shows unemployment rates by region. In September, Suðuroyar region had the highest rate at 1.2%, down from 1.3% in September 2023. Sandoyar region had the lowest rate at 0.4%, down from 0.9% a year ago. Vága region unemployment rate increased by 0.8% year-on-year to 1.0%.
More regional statistics on unemployment are found here: Norðoya region, Eysturoyar region, Norðstreymoyar region, Suðurstreymoyar region, Vága region, Sandoyar region, Suðuroyar region
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Highest unemployment in age group 25-34
The 25-34 age group had an unemployment rate of 1.3% in September. The lowest rate (0.7%) was registered in the 45-54 and 55-66 age groups.
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2% are long-term unemployed
The graph below shows how long people have been unemployed. In September, 40 people (12.6% of all unemployed people) were long-term unemployed, i.e. they had been out of work for more than a year. The number of long-term unemployed people increased by 10 since September 2023. In September, the largest group of unemployed people were those who have been out of work between 6 and 12 months.
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Unemployment as a concept
Statistics Faroe Islands and other statistics agencies across the world use the definitions of unemployment given by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is a United Nations agency.
According to this definition, the unemployment rate reflects the proportion of the labour force that does not have a job, is available to the labour market and is actively looking for work.
In the monthly unemployment reports from Statistics Faroe Islands, unemployed people are defined as those who are registered as unemployed with the Faroese unemployment system and the social welfare services and who meet the above definition of unemployment.