- Unemployment increased in March, the rate increased especially among women and young people. We also see that temporary employees continued to decrease, says Matilda Wedtström Kjerfh, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In March 2024, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 amounted to 5 713 000, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force was 2 707 000 and the number of men was 3 006 000. The labour force participation rate amounted to 75.3 percent. The labour force participation rate for women was 72.5 percent and for men it was 77.9 percent.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 725 000. This corresponds to a labour force participation rate of 75.4 percent, an increase compared to recent months.

Employment

There were 5 188 000 employed people aged 15–74 in March 2024, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed women was 2 455 000 and the number of employed men amounted to 2 733 000. The employment rate was 68.3 percent. The employment rate among women amounted to 65.8 percent and for men it was 70.8 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed persons aged 15–74 amounted to 5 249 000, which corresponds to an employment rate of 69.1 percent.

Employees

In March 2024, there were 4 663 000 employees, according to not seasonally adjusted data. The number of employees among women was 2 296 000 and among men it was 2 367 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 074 000. The number of permanent employed women amounted to 1 979 000 and the number of permanent employed men was 2 095 000. The number of temporary employees was 590 000, a decrease of 74 000 compared to the corresponding month the previous year. The number of temporary employed women was 318 000 and the number of temporary employed men amounted to 272 000.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of employees amounted to 4 735 000, of which the number of permanent employees was 4 087 000 and the number of temporary employees was 648 000. Compared to recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of permanent employees and a decrease in the number of temporary employees.

Hours worked

The average number of total hours worked in March 2024 amounted to 166.6 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 158.4 million per week.

Unemployment

In March 2024, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 525 000, not seasonally adjusted, which is an increase of 86 000 people compared to the corresponding month the previous year. The unemployment rate amounted to 9.2 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points. The number of unemployed women amounted to 252 000 and the number of unemployed men was 273 000. The unemployment rate for women amounted to 9.3 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, and for men it was 9.1 percent. The number of long-term unemployed, unemployed for at least 27 weeks, was 147 000. The number of long-term unemployed women were 78 000, an increase of 26 000, and the number of men were 69 000.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 199 000. The youth unemployment rate was 29.6 percent, an increase of 5.0 percentage points. Among unemployed young people, 145 000 were full-time students.

Compared with recent months, the number of unemployed among people aged 15-74 increased and amounted to 476 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also increased and amounted to 8.3 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 165 000 and the unemployment rate was 24.2 percent. Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate among young people.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together constitute the unused labour supply. In March 2024, the unused labour supply averaged 24.6 million hours per week. This is an increase of 4.3 million hours compared to the corresponding month the previous year. The unused labour supply corresponds to 615 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks. Latent job seekers amounted to 268 000 people, an increase of 62 000. The number of latent job seekers among women were 124 000, and among men it was 144 000, an increase of 57 000.