- In 2024, the labour market weakened, marked by rising unemployment and declining overall employment. While the number of temporary employees decreased, the number of permanent employees saw an increase, says Philip Krantz, statistician at the Labor Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force participation remains high

The labour force amounted to 5 722 000. The number of men in the labour force was 2 991 000 and the number of women was 2 730 000. The labour force participation rate was 75.3 percent. Among men it was 77.4 percent, and 73.1 percent among women. The labour force participation rate among foreign born was 78.5 percent, and among Swedish born it was 74.2 percent.

The employment rate decreased to 69.0 percent

In 2024, 5 241 000 persons aged 15-74 were employed. Compared to 2023, this is a decrease of 29 000 people. The number of employed men decreased by 28 000 and amounted to 2 744 000, while the number of employed women was 2 497 000. The employment rate, the share of employed people in the population aged 15–74, was 69.0 percent in 2024, which is a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to 2023. The employment rate among men was 71.0 percent, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points, and among women it was 66.8 percent. Considering the period from 2001-2024, the employment rate reached its highest level in 2023. Despite a decrease from the previous year, employment in 2024 remained at a high level.

Among foreign born persons, the employment rate decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 65.8 percent. Among foreign-born men, the employment rate decreased by 2.7 percentage points and amounted to 69.7 percent. Among foreign-born women, the employment rate was 61.7 percent. Among Swedish born persons, the employment rate was 70.0 percent, 71.5 percent among men and 68.5 percent among women.

People who want and can work more than they usually do are called underemployed. In 2024, 351 000 people were underemployed. The number of underemployed men was 186 000 and the number of women was 165 000. Underemployed persons amounted to 6.7 percent of employed persons. 6.8 percent of men and 6.6 percent of women where underemployed in 2024.

Permanent employees increased while temporary employees decreased

Among people aged 15-74, there were 4 735 000 employees in 2024, which corresponds to 90.3 percent of the employed. The number of employees among men was 2 386 000 while among women 2 349 000 were employees. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 097 000 in 2024, an increase of 50 000 compared to 2023. The number of permanent employees among men was 2 091 000. The number of permanent employees among women was 2 006 000, an increase of 42 000. The number of temporary employees amounted to 638 000, a decrease of 62 000 people compared with the previous year. The number of temporary employees among men was 295 000, a decrease of 23 000. The number of temporary employees among women decreased by 39 000 and amounted to 343 000.

Number of hours worked

In 2024, the average number of total hours worked per week amounted to 156.5 million per week. For men, hours worked decreased by 1.2 million and amounted to 87.4 million per week. For women, the number of hours was 69.1 million per week.

Rise in unemployment continued

In 2024, the number of unemployed aged 15-74 amounted to 480 000, an increase of 41 000 compared to 2023. The number of unemployed men was 247 000 and the number of unemployed women was 233 000, an increase of 23 000 and 18 000 respectively. The unemployment rate amounted to 8.4 percent which is an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to 2023. Among men the unemployment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points and amounted to 8.3 percent. Among women the unemployment rate increased by 0.6 percentage points to 8.5 percent. Considering the period from 2001 to 2024, the unemployment rate in 2024 was high. During the pandemic year 2021, the unemployment rate for the population was 8.9 percent, which is the highest level during the period. Unemployment decreased in 2022 but has since increased.

The unemployment rate among Swedish born people increased by 0.6 percentage points to 5.7 percent. For Swedish born men it was 5.7 percent and for women it was 5.6 percent, an increase of 0.6 and 0.5 percentage points respectively. The unemployment rate among foreign-born people increased by 1.1 percentage points to 16.2 percent. Among foreign-born men the unemployment rate increased by 1.6 percentage points and amounted to 15.6 percent, compared to 17.0 percent among foreign-born women.

In 2024, the number of unemployed people aged 15-24 increased by 15 000 compared to 2023 and amounted to 166 000. Of these, 94 000 were full-time students. The corresponding unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 was 24.3 percent, an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to last year. The share of unemployed young men increased by 2.4 percentage points to 24.9 percent, compared to 23.6 percent among young women.

The number of long-term unemployed, those unemployed for at least 27 weeks, among people aged 15-74 amounted to 152 000 in 2024. This is an increase of 24 000 compared to 2023. The number of long-term unemployed men amounted to 79 000 while the number of long-term unemployed women increased by 15 000 and amounted to 73 000.

Regional distribution

Among Sweden’s three largest counties - Stockholm, Västra Götaland and Skåne county – the employment rate was highest in Stockholm, for both men and women. The employment rate in Stockholm was 73.2 percent for men, a decrease by 2.0 percentage points, and 70.8 percent for women. In Västra Götaland the employment rate for men decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 70.8 percent. The employment rate among women was 65.9 percent. In Skåne the employment rate was 70.3 percent for men and 65.3 percent for women.

In 2024, the unemployment rate in Stockholm was 8.1 percent among men, an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to 2023. Among women in Stockholm the unemployment rate was 8.5 percent. Among men in Västra Götaland the unemployment rate was 8.2 percent while for women it increased by 1.6 percentage points to 9.3 percent. In Skåne, the corresponding number was 9.0 for men and 10.4 percent for women.

A more detailed report on the labour market situation for the entire population aged 15–74 is available in the publication Labour force surveys (LFS) 2024.