Iceland Jobless Rate Climbs To 4.8%

(RTTNews) - Iceland's jobless rate increased further in January to the highest level in four months, figures from Statistics Iceland showed on Wednesday.

The jobless rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent in January from 3.8 percent in December. In the same month last year, the unemployment rate was 4.0 percent.

The number of unemployed persons increased to 11,300 in January from 9,000 in the preceding month.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons dropped to 222,400 in November from 227,500 in the prior month. The employment rate was 78.1 percent versus 78.8 percent in December.

On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in January, up from 3.7 percent a month ago.