The Faroes have Europe’s most active labour force

Of the 37,700 people in the Faroes in the 15-74 age bracket, 31,800 are part of the labour force.

This corresponds to more than 84 percent, which is the highest employment activity rate in Europe, reports Statistics Faroe Islands.

The labour force is an international measurement which counts the section of the population aged between 15 and 74 who are capable of providing work.

Men and women

The Faroese activity rate – the labour force in percentages of the working-age population – is 84.3% averaged over both sexes, 86.1% for men and 82.4% for women.

For both sexes, the Faroese activity rate is the highest in Europe, followed by Iceland, Switzerland and Sweden.

These are some of the key findings of the labour force survey conducted by Statistics Faroe Islands in November 2020.

The labour force

Included in the labour force are all employed individuals, including employees, independent traders, employers, unemployed people available for work and individuals who carry out unpaid work for family businesses.

Not included in the labour force are young full-time students, people unavailable for work due to disease or reduced ability and people who have left the labour market due to age or other limitations. In statistical terms, these groups are classified as being part of the inactive population.

Regions

Vágar has the highest activity rate for men (89%) and Sandoy the lowest (75%).

For women, Suðurstreymur and Norðstreymur have the highest activity rate (84%) and Sandoy has the lowest (78%).

Read the Faroese version of this article here

Translated by prosa.fo

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