From Iceland — Unemployment Falls Well Below European Average

Unemployment Falls Well Below European Average

Published June 13, 2012

Iceland’s unemployment rate is now far under the current European average, and is also well below America’s jobless rate.
RÚV reports that Iceland’s national unemployment rate for May was 5.6%, down almost one percentage point from April. This is the lowest unemployment has been since December 2008.
Demographically, the unemployment rate is 6.3% in the capital area and 4.5% in the countryside. More precisely, unemployment remains greatest in Suðurnes, at 9.4%, and lowest in the northwest, at around 2%. A third of the nation’s unemployed are between the ages of 25 and 34.
More encouraging is the fact that Iceland’s unemployment rate is well below the European average, which is currently 11%. It also happens to be under America’s jobless rate, which is at about 8%. The Directorate of Labour predicts that Iceland’s unemployment rate will continue to fall through June, to 4.6% to 5%.

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