Predicts 2.7% unemployment this summer

Iceland's Directorate of Labour expects the country's registered unemployment to sink to 2.7% compared to 3.6% in February.

This is lower than the average percentage of 3.1% over the last 25 years according to Karl Sigurðsson, specialist at the Directorate of Labour. Sigurðsson says to daily Morgunblaðið today that certain sectors, such as the construction industry and tourism, are furthermore beginning to experience labour shortage.

Marinó Melsted at Statistics Iceland says that unemployment will probably continue to decrease until it reaches a balance around 4% but not as fast as in recent years. The situation in the labour market is expected to further improve this year, he says.

Statistics Iceland uses the same method as for example Eurostat to calculate unemployment while the Directorate of Labour uses registered unemployment. According to Statistics Iceland unemployment in Iceland in February was 4.6%.