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Educational attainment of the population in 2019

Highly educated people are gainfully employed to greater extent than those with lower education

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2020-06-16 9.30

There is a distinct relation between level of education and the proportion of the population that is gainfully employed. The highly educated part of the population is gainfully employed to greater extent than those with lower education.

Highly educated people are, here, those with post-secondary education of at least three years and lower education refers to those people who have only completed primary and lower secondary education. In 2018, 81 percent of the population between the ages of 25–64 was gainfully employed. The corresponding percentage of the population with a long post-secondary education was 89 percent. Among people with only a primary and lower secondary education, 61 percent were employed.

Women more highly educated than men, but less gainfully employed

Women generally have a higher level of education than men. This also applies to the gainfully employed. Women taken as a total group are less employed than men despite the positive relationship between the level of education and being gainfully employed. In 2018, 80 percent of women and 83 percent of men were gainfully employed. There is a marginal difference between the sexes among the highly educated persons. Among those with only primary and lower secondary education the difference is greater. Among these, 68 percent of the men were gainfully employed but only 51 percent of the women.

Proportion of gainfully employed persons in the population (25–64 years) by educational level and sex in 2018. Percent

diagram

Highly educated in the counties of Jämtland and Västernorrland were most gainfully employed

The percentage of gainfully employed persons in the counties varied between 77 and 85 percent of the population between the ages of 25–64. Among the highly educated people, the percentage of gainfully employed persons varied between 85 and 93 percent. The counties of Jämtland and Västernorrland had the highest proportion of population gainfully employed among the highly educated, with 93 and 92 percent employed, while the county of Skåne had the lowest proportion at 85 percent.

The differences among counties is larger with regard to persons with lower levels of education. In total, 61 percent of persons with compulsory education were gainfully employed. The highest proportion of gainfully employed in the population among persons with a low level of education was 68 percent, in Halland County. The proportion of gainfully employed was also high in the counties of Jönköping, Gotland and Jämtland among persons with a low level of education. The lowest proportion of gainfully employed among persons with a low level of education was in Skåne, Västmanland and Södermanland. 

Among municipalities, as well, it is only a small difference in the proportion of population gainfully employed among the highly educated. The highly educated of Habo, Nykvarn and Lekeberg municipalities were gainfully employed to the greatest extent. Habo municipality had the highest proportion of population gainfully employed with 97 percent employed. The highest proportion of gainfully employed in the population among persons with a low education level was 81 percent in Nykvarn municipality and 78 percent in Habo municipality.

Statistical Database

More information is available in the Statistical Database

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