Unemployment
08. Jan 2025
Unemployment at 0.9% in November
Unemployed people are registered as unemployed with the Faroese unemployment system and the social welfare services, fully available to the labour market and actively seeking work.
In November, the unemployment rate was 0.9%, equivalent to 264 full-time unemployed people. In November 2023, the rate was 0.8%, with 249 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 November, 310 people were affected by unemployment, a year-on-year increase of 11.
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Lower unemployment rate for women
There were 94 full-time unemployed women in November, equivalent to 0.7%. This is a year-on-year increase of 0.1 percentage point. The November 2024 unemployment rate for men was 1.0% (170 full-time unemployed men), which is 0.1 percentage point higher than in November 2023.
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Highest unemployment growth in Vágar
The map below shows unemployment rates by region. In November, the Norðoyar and Sandoy regions had the lowest unemployment rate at 0.5%. For Norðoyar, this is the same rate as in November 2023, while for Sandoy, the rate increased by 0.4 percentage points year-on-year. Suðurstreymoy had the highest rate at 1.1%. The highest year-on-year unemployment growth was registered in Vágar, where the rate increased from 0.5% in November 2023 to 0.9% in November 2024.
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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Unemployment falls in 16-24 age group
The lowest unemployment rate in November was registered in the 16-24 age group at 0.6%, up year-on-year by 0.2 percentage points. The highest rate (1.3%) was registered in the 25-34 age group, up 0.2 percentage points.
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13% are long-term unemployed
The graph below shows how long people have been unemployed. In November, 38 people (13% 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 six since November 2023. The largest group of unemployed people in November were those who have been out of work between one and three 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. Unemployment reports from Statistics Faroe Islands only cover people aged 16-66.
For international comparisons, see Labour force survey.