Iceland sees largest drop in unemployment since the nineties

NordenBladet — According to Vísir, Iceland’s rate of unemployment has seen the largest drop within the country since 1994, where the rate dropped from 10.4% to 9.1% between April and May of 2021. 

The number of people dropping off the unemployment register was around 2400, with tourism-related sectors seeing the most significant decrease during this period.

Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs, noted that this change happened faster than expected, pointing to an employment initiative set up by the government that aimed to create a minimum of 7000 jobs through financial support to both private and public institutions that hired new employees. In total, the initiative created around 10,400 jobs.

Daðason noted that the goal is to create even more jobs in the near future in partnership with Iceland’s business community.

In June, unemployment is expected to fall to 7.3-7.7%, according to projections set by Iceland’s Directorate of Labour. This would mean that the number of people registered as unemployed would drop from 20,000 to 14,00 by the end of June.