Since 1 January 2021, the Swedish LFS is in compliance with the new EU framework regulation on social statistics (Regulation (EU) 2019/1700). More information on the alignment to the regulation is available on the LFS home page under “Information on the introduction of the new 2021 framework regulation in the LFS” (scb.se).

The changes have caused breaks in the LFS time series. To make the series comparable in time, a selection of series has been linked backwards to 2005 according to the new practise. Later this year further series will be available.

Labour force

In April 2022, there were 5 609 000 persons aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted, which is an increase of 78 000 persons compared to April 2021. The number of women in the labour force was 2 670 000, and the number of men was 2 939 000. The relative labour force participation rate amounted to 74.6 percent. Among women, it was 72.2 percent and among men, it was 76.9 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number and share of persons in the labour force compared with nearby months. The number of persons in the labour force amounted to 5 598 000 persons, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 74.4 percent.

Employment

In April 2022, there were 5 151 000 employed persons aged 15-74, not seasonally adjusted, which is an increase of 141 000 compared to the corresponding month a year ago. There were 2 429 000 employed women and 2 722 000 employed men, an increase of 96 000. The employment rate increased by 1.7 percentage points to 68.5 percent. Among women, the employment rate was 65.7 percent, and among men it was 71.2 percent, an increase of 2.3 percentage points.

Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data indicates an increase in both the number and share of employed persons compared with recent months. There were 5 175 000 employed persons, corresponding to an employment rate of 68.8 percent.

Employees

In April 2022, there were 4 649 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 126 000 compared with the corresponding month last year. Among women, there were 2 265 000 employees. Among men, there were 2 384 000 employees, an increase of 115 000. There were 3 945 000 permanent employees in the same period, an increase of 141 000. Among women, there were 1 865 000 permanent employees and the number of permanent employed men increased by 121 000 to 2 079 000. There were 705 000 temporary employees. Among them, 400 000 were women and 305 000 were men.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees was 4 656 000. The corresponding figure for permanent employees was 3 935 000 and for temporary employees 721 000. Compared with previous months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of employees, in permanent employees and in temporary employees.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked in April 2022 amounted to 154.5 million per week, not seasonally adjusted. In calendar-adjusted figures, this corresponds to an increase of 2.9 percent compared with April 2021. The largest increase was in Accommodation and food services, where the number of hours worked, calendar-adjusted, increased by 48.3 percent compared with April 2021.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data there was an increase in the average number of hours worked compared to nearby months, which amounted to amounted to 153.6 million.

Unemployment

In April 2022, there were 458 000 unemployed persons aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This is a decrease of 63 000 compared with April 2021. It corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points. Among unemployed persons, there were 241 000 women, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 9.0 percent. The number of unemployed men amounted to 217 000, a decrease of 59 000. Among men, the unemployment rate was 7.4 percent, a decrease of 2.1 percentage units.

There were 170 000 unemployed young people aged 15–24 years, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 26.0 percent, which is a decrease of 5.2 percentage points compared to April 2021. Among unemployed young people, 126 000 persons were full-time students.

Among persons aged 15–74 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in both the number and share of unemployed persons compared to nearby months. In April 2022 there were 423 000 unemployed persons, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent.

Among young people aged 15–24, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data also shows a decrease in both the number and share of unemployed persons compared to nearby months. The number of unemployed young people amounted to 142 000, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 22.2 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed persons, underemployed persons and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In April 2022, the unused labour supply averaged 21.4 million hours per week, which is 3.0 million hours less compared to April 2021. The unused labour supply corresponds to 535 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

There were 263 000 underemployed persons in April, a decrease of 86 000 compared to April 2021. The number of underemployed men decreased by 44 000 to 138 000, and the number of underemployed women decreased by 43 000 to 125 000. The number of latent job seekers was 251 000.

2022-06-22.