The unemployment rate in Iceland was 4.7 percent in July, down by 0.1 percentage points—or 332 workers—from the previous month. In July 2011, 6.6 percent of the Icelandic workforce was unemployed.
Construction workers in Iceland. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
On average, 8,372 people were without a job in Iceland last month, 5,441 of whom had been unemployed for more than six months and 3,418 of whom had been unemployed for more than one year, Fréttablaðið reports.
The Directorate of Labor assumes that the jobless rate will remain relatively unchanged in August, between 4.6 and 5.0 percent.
According to ruv.is, unemployment in the construction sector has also decreased; the number of jobless construction workers has decreased by half in one year.
Managing director of Samiðn, the association of vocational trade unions, Þorbjörn Guðmundsson, said there are many reasons for this development, including that a number construction workers have moved to Norway and not returned.
However, the construction sector has also been on the up. For example, the construction of buildings that were left unfinished after the 2008 banking collapsed is now being completed, Þorbjörn explained.
“And the construction of new buildings is also taking place. Not to any significant extent but things are about to start rolling again,” Þorbjörn stated.
Click here to read about unemployment in June.
ESA
