Since 1 January 2021, the Swedish LFS is in compliance with the new EU framework regulation on social statistics (Regulation (EU) 2019/1700). More information on the alignment to the regulation is available on the LFS home page under “Information on the introduction of the new 2021 framework regulation in the LFS” (scb.se).

The changes have caused breaks in the LFS time series. To make the series comparable in time, a selection of series has been linked backwards to 2005 according to the new practise. Further linked series will be available with this publication.

Labour force

In May 2022, there were 5 657 000 persons aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force was 2 665 000, and the number of men was 2 992 000. The relative labour force participation rate amounted to 75.1 percent. Among women, it was 72.0 percent and among men, it was 78.0 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number and share of persons in the labour force compared with nearby months. The number of persons in the labour force amounted to 5 615 000 persons, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 74.6 percent.

Employment

In May 2022, there were 5 175 000 employed persons aged 15-74, not seasonally adjusted, which is an increase of 124 000 compared to the corresponding month a year ago. There were 2 457 000 employed women, an increase of 73 000, and 2 719 000 employed men. The employment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 68.7 percent. Among women, the employment rate increased by 1.9 percentage point to 66.4 percent, and among men it was 70.9 percent.

Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data indicates an increase in both the number and share of employed persons compared with recent months. There were 5 185 000 employed persons, corresponding to an employment rate of 68.8 percent.

The number of employed foreign born persons was 1 159 000, an increase of 84 000 compared to May 2021. Employment among foreign born women increased by 62 000 to 563 000, and the number of employed foreign born men amounted to 596 000.

Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data indicates an increase in both the number and share of employed persons compared with recent month for foreign born persons. There were 1 156 000 employed foreign born persons, corresponding to an employment rate of 63.7 percent.

The number of employed young people aged 15-24 increased by 53 000 to 492 000. It corresponds to an employment rate of 42.3 percent, an increase of 4.2 percentage points.

Among young people aged 15–24, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number and share of employed persons compared with recent months. The number of employed young people amounted to 508 000, corresponding to an employment rate of 43.7 percent.

Employees

In May 2022, there were 4 671 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 117 000 compared with the corresponding month last year. Among women, there were 2 321 000 employees, an increase of 67 000. Among men, there were 2 349 000 employees. There were 3 940 000 permanent employees in the same period. Among women, there were 1 906 000 permanent employees, and the number of permanent employed men was 2 035 000. There were 730 000 temporary employees. Among them, 416 000 were women and 315 000 were men.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees was 4 677 000. The corresponding figure for permanent employees was 3 943 000 and for temporary employees 734 000. Compared with previous months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of employees, in permanent employees and in temporary employees.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked in May 2022 amounted to 164.8 million per week, not seasonally adjusted. In calendar-adjusted figures, this corresponds to an increase of 3.5 percent compared with May 2021. The largest increase was in Accommodation and food services, where the number of hours worked, calendar-adjusted, increased by 76.9 percent compared with May 2021. In Human health and social work activities the number of hours worked, calendar-adjusted, increased by 9.7 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data there was an increase in the average number of hours worked compared to nearby months, which amounted to amounted to 155.0 million.

Unemployment

In May 2022, there were 482 000 unemployed persons aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This is a decrease of 64 000 compared with May 2021. It corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points. The number of unemployed women decreased by 55 000 to 208 000, this corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.8 percent, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points. The number of unemployed men amounted to 274 000, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent.

Among persons aged 15–74 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in both the number and share of unemployed persons compared to nearby months. In May 2022 there were 430 000 unemployed persons, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent.

There were 176 000 unemployed young people aged 15–24 years, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 26.3 percent. Among unemployed young people, 140 000 persons were full-time students.

Among young people aged 15–24, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in the share of unemployed persons compared to nearby months. The number of unemployed young people amounted to 143 000, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 22.0 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed persons, underemployed persons and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In May 2022, the unused labour supply averaged 22.4 million hours per week, which is 4.7 million hours less compared to May 2021. The unused labour supply corresponds to 560 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

There were 294 000 underemployed persons in May 2022, a decrease of 54 000 compared to May 2022. The number of underemployed women was 148 000, and the corresponding figure for men was 146 000. The number of latent job seekers was 217 000. Among the latent job seekers, 104 000 were women and 114 000 were men.

2022-07-29.