Labour Force Surveys (LFS), June 2021
The number of permanent and temporary employees increased
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2021-07-29 9.30
In June 2021, 5 144 000 people were employed, not seasonally adjusted. There were 591 000 unemployed persons, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent. The total average number of hours worked was 159.2 million hours per week. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed that there were 5 057 000 employed persons in June, an increase compared with previous months in 2021. The number of permanent as well as temporary employees increased and amounted to 3 855 000 and 718 000 respectively. The unemployment rate was 9.2 percent, an increase compared with previous months in 2021.
Care should be taken when interpreting the outcome for June 2021. The reason is increased uncertainty in the summer, as well as a higher non-response rate compared to normal.
Since 1 January, the Swedish LFS is in compliance with the new EU framework regulation on social statistics (Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council). This framework regulation has involved changes in the definition of employment, the sampling procedure, and the structure of the questionnaire. These changes have caused breaks in the time series and therefore, this item of statistical news does not include any comparisons with previous years. Comparisons with previous months in 2021 are possible for seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. However, comparisons with previous years are not advised. Throughout 2021, parallel measurements will be used to make it possible to link data backwards in time and make the series comparable with previous years.
The number of employed persons has been affected, partly due to the change in the definition; people who are completely absent from work for three months or more for certain reasons are no longer classified as being employed. Furthermore, new and updated information is used in the weighting procedures, which improves the precision in the estimates, although it also affects the levels of the number of employed persons. The change in the definition and the new weighting procedure led to a total estimated number of employed persons in June that is 44 000 fewer than according to the previous method.
Besides the number of employed persons, other estimates may also have been affected by a change in definition, target population, and survey design. The new auxillary information may also have affected the other estimates.
More information on the alignment to the framework regulation is available on the LFS product page at “Information on the introduction of the new 2021 framework regulation in the LFS” (scb.se).
The labour force
In June 2021, there were 5 735 000 people aged 15–74 years in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. There were 3 027 000 men and 2 708 000 women in the labour force. The relative labour force participation rate was 76.4 percent. This rate was 79.4 percent for men and 73.3 percent for women.
According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 5 571 000 people in the labour force and the labour force participation rate was 74.1 percent. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the number of people in the labour force as well as the labour force participation rate.
Employment
In June 2021, there were85 144 000 employed people aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 425 000 employed women and 2 720 000 employed men. The employment rate was 68.5 percent. This rate was 65.6 percent for women and 71.3 percent for men.
According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 5 057 000 employed persons and the employment rate was 67.3 percent. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the number of employed persons as well as the employment rate.
Employees
In June 2021, there were 4 678 000 employees according to non-seasonally adjusted data. Among employees, there were 2 309 000 women and 2 369 000 men. There were 3 886 000 permanent employees and 792 000 temporary employees.
According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 4 573 000 employees. There were 3 855 000 permanent employees and 718 000 temporary employees. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the number of permanent employees as well as temporary employees.
Hours worked
In June 2021, the average number of hours worked was 159.2 million per week, not seasonally adjusted.
Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed that the total average number of hours worked per week was 152.4 million, an increase compared with previous months in 2021.
At work and absence
There were 4 452 000 people employed and at work in June 2021, not seasonally adjusted.
The LFS estimates the number of people who were absent from their principal occupation for the whole week or for part of the week by main reason for absence. In June 2021, this figure was 1 878 000, not seasonally adjusted. There were 701 000 people absent for the whole week in June 2021. Among these, 110 000 were absent due to illness, while 366 000 people were absent due to holidays.
In June 2021 the number of people stating that they were absent due to lay-offs was too small to present an estimate. The same applies for people absent due to lack of work.
Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed that there were 4 289 000 people at work. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the number of people at work.
Unemployment
In June 2021, there were 591 000 unemployed persons aged 15–74 years, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. There were 307 000 unemployed men and 284 000 unemployed women, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 10.1 percent for men and 10.5 percent for women. Among those who were unemployed, 184 000 had been unemployed for more than six months.
In June, there were 514 000 unemployed persons according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the number and the proportion of unemployed people.
Additional questions on the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market
In view of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, questions about the impact of COVID-19 have been added to the LFS. The answers to these questions show that 29 000 employed people aged 15–74 years were absent during the whole reference week in June related to COVID-19. This means that among people who were absent during the entire reference week, 4.2 percent were absent due to COVID-19.
Among employees aged 15–74 years who were absent during the entire reference week, 3.9 percent, which corresponds to 25 000 people, stated that their absence was related to COVID-19. Furthermore, 8.0 percent of employees who were absent during part of the week, 88 000 people, stated that their absence was related to COVID-19. Among self-employed persons and assisting family members aged 15–74 years, 29.5 percent felt that they had less work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while 21.5 percent felt that they had more work.
To be classified as unemployed in the LFS, a person must be without a job, must be able to start work and must have sought work. This means that people who are without a job, but who have not been seeking work or are unable to start work are not classified as unemployed, but are classified, instead, as not in the labour force. In June 2021, there were 1 775 000 people aged 15–74 years not in the labour force. Among these, 49 000 people stated that they would have been able to work, but had not sought work due to COVID-19.
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