- In July the long-term unemployment increased by 45 000 compared to July previous year. This is the second consecutive month that long-term unemployment has increased, says Louise Stener, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In July 2024, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 years amounted to 5 898 000, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force was 2 840 000 and the number of men was 3 058 000. The labour force participation rate amounted to 77.7 percent. For women the participation rate was 76.1 percent and for men it was 79.2 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 5 739 000, which corresponds to a participation rate of 75.6 percent.

Employment

In July 2024 the number of employed people aged 15-74 years amounted to 5 444 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is a decrease of 80 000 compared to the same month previous year. The number of employed women was 2 625 000. The number of employed men was 2 819 000, a decrease of 89 000. The employment rate amounted to 71.7 percent, which is a decrease of 1.1 percentage points. The employment rate among women amounted to 70.3 percent, and among men it was 73.0 percent, a decrease of 2.3 percentage points

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 5 261 000 and the employment rate was 69.3 percent. This is an increase in both the number and the share of employed people compared with recent months.

Employees

In July 2024, there were 4 976 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employees among women was 2 484 000 and the number of employees among men was 2 492 000, a decrease of 75 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 177 000. The number of permanent employees among women amounted to 2 065 000, an increase of 78 000 people, and the number of permanent employees among men was 2 113 000. The number of temporary employees was 798 000, which is a decrease of 96 000 compared to the same month previous year. Among women, the number was 420 000 and for men the number was 379 000, a decrease of 52 000.

The number of employees increased compared to recent months and amounted to 4 761 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Of those the number of permanent employees was 4 128 000 and the number of temporary employees was 633 000. 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 July 2024 amounted to 98.1 million per week, not seasonally adjusted.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the average number of hours worked was 155.4 million per week. This is a decrease compared to recent months.

Unemployment

In July 2024, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 454 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 87 000 compared to the same month previous year. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent, an increase of 1,5 percentage points. The number of unemployed women amounted to 215 000. The number of unemployed men was 239 000, an increase of 63 000. The unemployment rate for women was 7.6 percent and for men it was 7.8 percent, in increase of 2.1 percentage points. The number of long-term unemployed people, who have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks, amounted to 164 000, which is an increase of 45 000 people compared to the corresponding month last year. The number of long-term unemployed women was 71 000 and the number of long-term unemployed men was 93 000, an increase of 31 000. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 149 000. This is an increase of 56 000 compared to the same month last year. The youth unemployment rate amounted to 17.7 percent, an increase of 6.5 percentage points.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of unemployed people aged 15-74 years amounted to 478 000, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed young people aged 15-24 years was 169 000, an increase compared to recent months. The youth unemployment rate was 24.4 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together constitute the unused labour supply. In July 2024, it averaged 25.4 million hours per week, an increase of 3.3 million hours compared to July 2023. The unused labour supply corresponds to 635 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

2024-09-18, at 08:00.