Number Of Foreign Nationals In Iceland Increasing, Yet Unemployment Rate Higher For Them

Frétablaðið reports that the number of foreign nationals in Iceland is increasing. It is also true, however, that the unemployment rate is higher for this group.

According to the National Register of Iceland, foreign nationals make up 1.5% more of the population of Iceland than they did in 2018. 12.4% of people living in Iceland in 2018 were foreign nationals, compared to 13.9% in 2020.

However, RÚV reports that the unemployment rate is much higher for foreign nationals (24% unemployment rate) than it is for Icelandic citizens (12% unemployment rate). In addition, immigrants are also less likely to be hired than Icelanders.

As reported, unemployment is particularly bad amongst foreign nationals: 41% of all unemployed people in Iceland belong to this group, despite making up only 14% of the country’s population. Furthermore, Polish people—Iceland’s largest ethnic minority—make up 20% of Iceland’s total number of unemployed people, despite comprising only about 5% of the total population.

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