- The development in the labour market was more restrained in 2023 compared to 2022. Unemployment increased among Swedish born people. At the same time, employment continued to rise, but the increase was lower compared to the previous year. It was mainly among foreign born people that employment rose, says Charlotta Olofsson, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

For an overview of how the labour market situation has changed over the year, see the monthly and quarterly publications on Labour Force Surveys (LFS).

The labour force participation rate increased to 75.2 percent

In 2023, there were on average 7 589 000 persons aged 15-74 in the population¹ , an increase of 35 000 compared to 2022. Among these, 3 860 000 were men, an increase of 20 000, and 3 728 000 were women, an increase of 16 000. The number of foreign born in the population aged 15-74 increased by 47 000 and amounted to 1 870 000 persons. The number of Swedish born decreased by 12 000 to 5 719 000 persons.

There were 5 710 000 persons in the labour force, an increase of 89 000 compared to 2022. The number of men in the labour force was 2 997 000, an increase of 35 000, and the number of women were 2 713 000, an increase of 54 000. In 2023, there were 1 479 000 people in the labour force among foreign born, an increase of 85 000 compared to the previous year. Among Swedish born people, there were 4 231 000 in the labour force. The labour force participation rate was 75.2 percent, an increase of 0.8 percentage points. It amounted to 77.6 percent among men and among women it increased by 1.2 percentage points to 72.8 percent.

The employment rate remained at a high level

There were on average 5 270 000 employed persons, aged 15-74, in 2023. Compared to 2022, this is an increase of 71 000 persons. The number of employed men was 2 772 000, while the number of employed women increased by 50 000 to 2 498 000. Among Swedish born, there were 4 015 000 employed persons. There were 1 255 000 employed among foreign born people, an increase of 85 000. Among these, the number of foreign born men increased by 40 000 to 688 000 and the number of foreign born women increased by 46 000 and amounted to 567 000.

The employment rate, in 2023, amounted to 69.4 percent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous year. This is the highest share of employed persons in the population since 2001, which is as far back in time as there is comparable data in the Swedish LFS. The increase in 2023 was however lower than the previous year. Among men, the employment rate was 71.8 percent and among women it was 67.0 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Among foreign born people the employment rate increased by 2.9 percentage points to 67.1 percent. Among foreign born women, the rate increased by 3.6 percentage points and amounted to 61.7 percent. The employment rate also increased among foreign born men and amounted to 72.4 percent, an increase of 2.3 percentage points. Among Swedish born people, the employment rate was 70.2 percent.

The largest industry was financial operations, business services, where 976 000 persons were employed in 2023. The second largest industry was human health and social work activities, with 757 000 employed and the third largest was education with 599 000 employed. The smallest industry was agriculture, forestry, and fishing, where 84 000 persons were employed in 2023. The largest percentage increase in the number of employed persons was in the transport industry, with an increase of 22 000 persons to a total of 222 000 employed. There was also an increase in the number of employed persons in the manufacture of workshop goods.

People who want and can work more than they usually do are called underemployed. In 2023, there were 337 000 underemployed persons, an increase of 38 000 compared to the previous year. Among the underemployed, 178 000 were men, an increase of 21 000, and 159 000 were women, an increase of 17 000. The underemployed constituted 6.4 percent of the employed.

Permanent employees increased while temporary employees decreased

Among employed people aged 15-74, there were 4 747 000 employees in 2023, which corresponds to 90.1 percent. This is an increase of 64 000 people compared to 2022. There were 4 047 000 permanent employees on average in 2023, an increase of 97 000. The number of permanent employees among men was 2 083 000, an increase of 32 000, and the number of permanent employees among women was 1 964 000, an increase of 65 000. There were 700 000 temporary employees on average, which is a decrease of 34 000 people compared to the previous year.

In 2023, 66.3 percent of the employees worked in the private sector, 24.7 percent worked in the municipal sector and 7.7 percent were employed in the government sector. There were 3 148 000 employees on average in the private sector. In the municipal sector, there were 1 174 000 employees and in the government sector the corresponding figure was 364 000.

Number of hours worked increased the most in transport

In 2023, the total average number of hours worked per week increased by 1.2 percent compared to 2022 and amounted to 157.4 million hours.

The largest increase was noted in the transport industry, in which the number of hours worked increased by 12.5 percent compared to the previous year. In the manufacture of workshop goods, the increase was 8.3 percent.

The number of unemployed increased

In 2023, unemployment began to rise again after previously recovering from the corona pandemic. The trend rate of increase was even across the year, and it was among the Swedish born that unemployment rose.

In 2023, 440 000 persons aged 15-74 were unemployed, an increase of 18 000 compared to 2022. The number of unemployed men increased by 15 000 to 225 000 and the number of unemployed women amounted to 215 000. The number of unemployed Swedish born people increased by 19 000 to 216 000. The number of unemployed, foreign born people amounted to 223 000. In 2023, the average unemployment rate was 7.7 percent. The unemployment rate was 7.5 percent among men and 7.9 percent among women. The unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 5.1 percent among Swedish born people and among foreign born people, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.0 percentage points to 15.1 percent.

There were 151 000 unemployed young persons aged 15-24. Among these, 92 000 were full-time students. The unemployment rate among young persons amounted to 22.1 percent, of which the proportion of unemployed young men was 22.5 percent, and the proportion of women was 21.6 percent.

The average number of long-term unemployed persons, which are people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, was 129 000 in 2023. This is a decrease of 14 000 people compared to 2022. The number of long-term unemployed men amounted to 71 000 and the number of long-term unemployed women amounted to 58 000.

Fewer people not in the labour force

In 2023, 1 879 000 persons aged 15-74 were not in the labour force, which is a decrease of 54 000. Among those not in the labour force, 863 000 were men and the number of women were 1 016 000, a decrease of 38 000. There were 1 488 000 Swedish born people not the labour force. The number of foreign born people not in the labour force were 391 000, a decrease of 38 000 compared to 2022.

People who can and would like to work, but who are not looking for work, are called latent job seekers. The number of latent job seekers amounted to 253 000 persons in 2023, of which 130 000 were men and 122 000 were women. Among young persons, aged 15-24, the number of latent job seekers amounted to 124 000.

Regional distribution

Among the 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 75.2 percent for men and 71.0 percent for women. In Västra Götaland it was 73.1 percent for men and 68.1 percent for women. In Skåne, the corresponding figure was 71.7 percent for men and 66.7 percent for women, an increase of 3.5 percentage points among women.

The unemployment rate in Stockholm amounted to 6.4 percent among men and 7.5 percent among women. In Västra Götaland the unemployment rate increased by 1.4 percentage points to 7.3 percent among men and it amounted to 7.7 percent among women. In Skåne the corresponding figure was 9.7 percent for men and 9.4 percent for women.

^{1) The target population consists of people living in private households. People who live in so-called institutional accommodation, such as group accommodation for disabled, prisons and homes for closed youth care are thus excluded. Also conscripts are excluded from the target population.}

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) 2023.