According to the latest report from the Directorate of Labour, the unemployment rate for the month of January was 4.2%, up from 3.8% in December 2024, which is also where it was in January 2024.
Highest since April 2022
This marks the highest unemployment rate since April 2022, and is up from a previous low of 3.1% in July, bearing in mind that unemployment rates in Iceland tend to be lower in the summer.
As can be expected, this was not spread evenly across the country, either. The highest unemployment rate was in Suðurnes, southwest Iceland, at 7.7%. Meanwhile, Northwest Iceland had an unemployment rate of only 1.2%. In the greater Reykjavík area, it was 4.3%
In addition, of the 8,563 register with unemployment, 5,188 were foreign nationals.
Air travel with lowest rate
Nor was unemployment spread evenly across all sectors, even though it has risen in nearly all of them.
Air travel maintained virtually unchanged rates of employment from last December, with a job loss of exactly one. At the same time, unemployment has risen the most in retail. The sector with the lowest rate of unemployment was in publishing and information services.
