Words by

Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

Jabbi/Wikimedia Commons

The number of Icelanders without work has reached a low not seen since before the economic collapse of 2008.

Westfjords news service Bæjarins bestu reports that, according to the latest figures from the Directorate of Labour, unemployment on the national level was at 1.9% in September.

This is the first time since October 2008, the same month that Iceland’s banking system collapsed, that unemployment has been this low. At that time, unemployment had been under 2% since August 2005.

In November 2008, unemployment rose to about 3% and continued rising, reaching a high point of 9.3% in February and March of 2010.

Unemployment in Iceland has been steadily decreasing, due in no small part to the explosion of jobs in the tourism industry.