– The development of the labour market appeared subdued in August. However, some positive signals can be observed. The seasonally adjusted and smoothed employment number is increasing, similar to the previous month, says Philip Krantz, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In August 2024, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 years amounted to 5 744 000, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force was 2 756 000 and the number of men amounted to 2 988 000. The labour force participation rate amounted to 75.6 percent. For women the labour force participation rate was 73.7 percent and for men it was 77.4 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show an increase in both the number and the share of people in the labour force compared with recent months. The number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 737 000, which corresponds to a labour force participation rate of 75.5 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 years amounted to 5 291 000 in August 2024, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed women was 2 531 000 and the number of men was 2 760 000. The employment rate amounted to 69.6 percent. The employment rate among women was 67.7 percent and for men it was 71.5 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 5 257 000 and the employment rate was 69.2 percent. This is an increase in both the number and the share of employed people compared with recent months.

Employees

In August 2024, the number of employees amounted to 4 788 000, according to not seasonally adjusted data. The number of employees among women was 2 389 000 and the number of men was 2 399 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 116 000. The number of permanent employees among women was 2 021 000 and among men it was 2 095 000. The number of temporary employees amounted to 673 000. Among women the number of temporary employees was 369 000 and for men it was 304 000.

The number of employees increased compared with recent months and amounted to 4 755 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Of these, 4 129 000 were permanent employees and 626 000 were temporary employees. Compared with recent months, the number of permanent employees increased while the number of temporary employees decreased.

Hours worked

The average number of total hours worked in August 2024 amounted to 131.7 million per week, according to not seasonally adjusted data.

Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show a decrease in the number of hours worked and the average number of hours worked amounted to 154.8 million per week.

Unemployment

In August 2024, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 453 000, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent. The number of unemployed women was 225 000 and the number of unemployed men was 228 000. The unemployment rate amounted to 8.2 percent for women and for men it was 7.6 percent. The number of long-term unemployed people, unemployed for at least 27 weeks, amounted to 162 000. The number of long-term unemployed women was 75 000 and the number of long-term unemployed men was 87 000. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 121 000. The youth unemployment rate was 17.5 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 480 000, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.4 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 years the number of unemployed amounted to 164 000. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 23.8 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent jobseekers together constitute the unused labour supply. In August 2024, the unused labour supply averaged 24.3 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 608 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

2024-09-24, at 08:00.