- The development on the labour market remains restrained in December. This is shown, among other things, in an increase of the unused labour supply, says Elin Ottosson Bixo, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In December 2023, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 amounted to 5 621 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 92 000 persons compared with the corresponding month previous year. The number of women in the labour force was 2 664 000, which is an increase of 62 000 people. The number of men was 2 958 000. The labour force participation rate amounted to 74.0 percent, an increase of 1.0 percentage points. The labour force participation rate for women was 71.4 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points. The labour force participation rate for men was 76.6 percent.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 724 000, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 75.4 percent.

Employment

There were 5 188 000 employed people aged 15–74 in December 2023, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed women was 2 440 000 and the number of employed men amounted to 2 748 000. The employment rate was 68.3 percent. The employment rate among women amounted to 65.4 percent and for men it was 71.1 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed persons aged 15–74 amounted to 5 266 000. This corresponds to an employment rate of 69.3 percent.

Employees

In December 2023, there were 4 638 000 employees, according to not seasonally adjusted data. The number of employees among women was 2 273 000 and the number of employees among men was 2 365 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 014 000. The number of permanent employed women amounted to 1 943 000 and the number of permanent employed men was 2 071 000. The number of temporary employees was 624 000. The number of temporary employed women was 331 000 and the number of temporary employed men amounted to 294 000.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of employees amounted to 4 740 000, of which the number of permanent employees was 4 065 000 and the number of temporary employees was 675 000. Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in the number of temporary employees.

Hours worked

The average number of total hours worked in December 2023 amounted to 148.3 million per week, according to not seasonally adjusted data.

Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of hours worked. The average number of hours worked was on average 156.4 million per week.

Unemployment

In December 2023, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 433 000, not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate amounted to 7.7 percent. The number of unemployed women amounted to 224 000 and the number of unemployed men was 209 000. The unemployment rate for women amounted to 8.4 percent and for men it was 7.1 percent. The number of long-term unemployed, unemployed for at least 27 weeks, was 138 000. The number of long-term unemployed women were 70 000 and the number of men were 68 000. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 135 000. The youth unemployment rate was 22.6 percent. Among unemployed young people, 87 000 were full-time students.

Compared with recent months, the number of unemployed among people aged 15-74 increased and amounted to 459 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also increased and amounted to 8.0 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 154 000 and the unemployment rate was 22.7 percent. Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of unemployed as well as the unemployment rate among young people.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together constitute the unused labour supply. In December 2023, the unused labour supply averaged 23.2 million hours per week. This is an increase of 2.4 million hours compared with corresponding month previous year. The unused labour supply corresponds to 580 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

2024-02-06 kl. 08:00.