Unemployment
28. Apr 2025
Unemployment at 1.2% in March
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.
The Faroese unemployment rate reached 1.2% in March 2025, which is the same rate as in March 2024.
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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 March, 352 people were full-time unemployed, a decrease of 12 compared with March 2024. 416 people were affected by unemployment, which is 11 fewer than in March 2024.
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Lower unemployment rate for women
In March, 153 women were affected by unemployment, 21 fewer than in March 2024. The full-time equivalent of this figure is 129, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 0.9%, down 0.2 percentage points from March 2024.
263 men were affected by unemployment, 10 more than in March 2024. Men’s unemployment rate stands at 1.4%, with 224 full-time unemployed men. This is 0.1 percentage point higher than in March 2024.
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Lowest unemployment in Sandoy
The map below shows unemployment rates by region. In March, the Sandoy region had the lowest unemployment rate at 0.3%, down from 1.0% in March 2024. Suðuroy had the highest rate at 3.2%, down from 3.7% in March 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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Lowest unemployment in ages 45+
The highest unemployment rate in March was registered in the 25-34 age group at 1.5%, 0.2 percentage point less than in March 2024. The lowest rate (0.9%) was registered in the 45-54 and 55-66 age groups.
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11% are long-term unemployed
The graph below shows how long people have been affected by unemployment. The largest group of unemployed people in March (141 persons, or 34% of all unemployed people) were those who have been out of work for between 30 and 89 days.
In March, 46 people (11.1% of all unemployed people) were long-term unemployed. This means that they have been out of work for more than a year (365+ days). The number of long-term unemployed people increased by 12 since March 2024, when the proportion of long-term unemployed people stood at 8%.
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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.