People in employment aged 15 to 74 numbered 5 319 000 in August in 2025. The number of employed was essentially unchanged, with only a marginal increase of 2 000 people compared with August 2024. In the 20 to 65 age range, 293 000 people were unemployed. This equals a share of 5.7 percent expressed as a percentage of the labour force and is an increase of 0.2 percentage point compared with the same period of the previous year.
The number of ongoing employments remains at the same level as in August of the previous year. During the same period, hours worked decreased by 1.3 percent, amounting to 534 million hours. The proportion of sickness was 1.5 percent. The total gross pay was 202 000 million SEK.
The volume of retail trade increased by 0.1 percent in September 2025 compared with August 2025. Retail sales in durables increased by 0.4 percent and retail sales in consumables (excluding Systembolaget, the state-owned chain of liquor stores) increased by 0.3 percent. These figures are working-day and seasonally adjusted and calculated in constant prices.
During 2024 the intramural expenditure on research and development (R&D) decreased in fixed prices. This marks the first year since 2014 where a reduction in expenditure in fixed prices was observed. The effect was primarily driven by the Business enterprise sector which also reduced its employed R&D personnel during the year. In total, the entire Swedish R&D sector comprised of 105 898 full-time equivalents during 2024.
Sweden’s GDP contracted 0.1 percent in September, seasonally adjusted and compared with the previous month, as shown by the preliminary compilation of the GDP indicator. For the third quarter as a whole GDP increased by 1.1 percent compared with the preceding quarter. Calender adjusted GDP for September was 2.7 percent higher than in the corresponding month of the preceding year, while GDP for the quarter as a whole was 2.4 percent higher than in the third quarter of 2024.