Iceland top of the pile in global employment

Iceland, which normally performs well in socioeconomic tables, has the world’s lowest rate of unemployment, according to new figures from prominent research firm Gallup.

The organisation’s Payroll to Population (P2P) measure estimates the percentage of a country’s adult population above the age of 14 – not only people currently in the workforce – that is employment on a full time basis for 30 hours or more per week.

Gallup’s P2P does not take into account self-employed people, part-time workers, and those who are unemployed or not payroll-employed. In addition, it does not adjust its P2P metric seasonally.

Iceland sits on top of the pile with 60 per cent of its population aged 15 or above working 30 hours or more per week on its P2P metric. Other northern European countries have also performed well on the list, with Sweden, Finland and Norway all at the upper reaches of the table.

Oil-rich countries such as Kuwait and the UAE are also near the top, while some of the world’s most developed countries including Canada, the US, Singapore and New Zealand are all in the top 20.

The list also gives an indication of joblessness by country, with some of the world’s poorest nations at the bottom of the table. Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, with just five per cent meeting the 30-plus hours criteria, take up the bottom three spots, while Nepal is the lowest ranked Asian nation with eight percent.