Unemployment
25. Mar 2024
Unemployment at 1.1%
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 February, the Faroese unemployment rate was 1.1%, equivalent to 336 full-time unemployed people. In February 2023, the rate was 0.8%, with 255 full-time unemployed people.
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 February, 409 people were affected by unemployment, an increase of 117 on February 2023.
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More unemployed men than women
There were 196 full-time unemployed men in February, equivalent to 1.2% of the labour force. This is a year-on-year increase of 0.3%. The February unemployment rate for women was 1.0% (140 full-time unemployed women), down 0.2% year-on-year.
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Highest rate in Suðuroy
The map below shows the unemployment rates by region. In February, Norðoyggjar had the lowest relative rate at 0.5%. At 2.4%, Suðuroy had the highest rate, increasing 0.9% year-on-year.
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Lowest unemployment in age group 55-66
The 55-66 age group had an unemployment rate of 0.8% in February. The highest rate (1.5%) was in the 25-34 age group.
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8.6% are long-term unemployed
The graph below shows how long people have been unemployed. In February, 35 people (8.6% of all unemployed people) were long-term unemployed, i.e. they had been out of work for more than a year. In February 2023, the largest group of unemployed people were those who have been out of work between 30 and 89 days.
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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.