– The number of employees increased in March. We also see a decrease in unemployment among young people aged 15–24, especially full-time students, compared with March 2024. However, the labour market continues to show signs of restraint and the number of unemployed is increasing according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, says Philip Krantz, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In March 2025, there were 5 725 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 716 000 women in the labour force and the number of men amounted to 3 009 000. The labour force participation rate was 75.1 percent. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 72.4 percent and among men, it was 77.8 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show an increase in both the number and the share of people in the labour force, compared to recent months. There were 5 755 000 people in the labour force, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 75.5 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 amounted to 5 240 000 in March 2025, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 476 000 employed women and 2 764 000 employed men. The employment rate stood at 68.7 percent. The employment rate among women was 66.0 percent, while for men it was 71.4 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, 5 251 000 people aged 15–74 were employed and the employment rate was 68.9 percent. This is an increase in both the number and the share of employed people compared to recent months.

Employees

In March 2025, there were 4 737 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. This is an increase of 73 000 people compared to the corresponding month the previous year, of which 36 000 were young people aged 15–24. The number of employees among women was 2 330 000 and the number among men was 2 406 000. The number of permanent employees was 4 138 000, of which 2 016 000 were women and 2 122 000 were men. The number of temporary employees amounted to 599 000. Among women the number of temporary employees was 314 000 and among men 285 000 were temporary employed.

The number of employees increased compared to recent months and amounted to 4 760 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Of these, 4 136 000 were permanent employees and 624 000 were temporary employees. Compared to recent months, the number of permanent employees increased.

Hours worked

Total hours worked in March 2025 averaged 171.4 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show an increase in the number of hours worked compared to recent months. The number of hours worked averaged 156.6 million per week.

Unemployment

In March 2025, 486 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent. There were 240 000 unemployed women and 245 000 unemployed men. The unemployment rate stood at 8.8 percent for women and 8.2 percent for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 168 000. There were 86 000 women and 82 000 men in long-term unemployment. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 156 000, a decrease of 43 000 compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. The youth unemployment rate stood at 23.6 percent, a decrease of 6.0 percentage points. Among unemployed young people, 106 000 were full-time students, a decrease of 38 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 increased compared to recent months and amounted to 504 000. The unemployment rate stood at 8.8 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 163 000. The unemployment rate among young people amounted to 23.8 percent, which is a decrease compared to recent months.

Unused labour supply

Collectively, unemployed people, underemployed people and latent jobseekers constitute the unused labour supply. In March 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 23.4 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 585 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working weeks.

2025-05-06 at 08:00.