Labour Force Surveys (LFS), September 2022

Slightly weaker development on the labour market

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2022-10-21 8.00

In September 2022, there were 5 189 000 employed people, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 93 000 people compared to September 2021. The average number of hours worked per week amounted to 175.6 million. The number of unemployed people amounted to 359 000, a decrease of 96 000. The unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points. Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data indicates an increase in employment and a decrease in the unemployment rate, which amounted to 7.1 percent.

Labour force

In September 2022, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 was 5 548 000, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force was 2 607 000 and the number of men was 2 941 000. The relative labour force participation rate was 73.6 percent. Among women it was 70.2 percent and among men it was 76.9 percent.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 622 000, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 74.6 percent.

Employment

In September 2022, there were 5 189 000 employed people aged 15–74, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 93 000 compared to September 2021, a slightly lower increase than previous months. The number of employed women was 2 421 000 and the number of employed men was 2 768 000. The employment rate increased by 1.0 percentage points to 68.8 percent. Among women the employment rate was 65.2 percent, and among men the employment rate was 72.4 percent. Among young people aged 15 to 24, the number of employed people increased by 44 000 to 479 000. This corresponds to an employment rate of 41.0 percent.

Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data shows an increase in both the number and share of employed people compared with recent months, but a somewhat weaker development than previous months. There were 5 224 000 employed people, corresponding to an employment rate of 69.3 percent. There were 533 000 employed young people aged 15-24, corresponding to an employment rate of 45.5 percent.

Employees

In September 2022, there were 4 652 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. Among women the number of employees amounted to 2 278 000 and among men the number of employees amounted to 2 375 000. There were 3 958 000 permanent employees. Among women there were 1 903 000 permanent employees and among men there were 2 055 000. The number of temporary employees amounted to 695 000. Among women the number of temporary employees was 375 000 and among men the number of temporary employees was 320 000.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees was 4 714 000. The corresponding figure for permanent employees was 3 970 000 and for temporary employees 744 000. Compared with nearby months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of employees as well as permanent employees.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked in September 2022 amounted to 175.6 million per week, not seasonally adjusted.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data there was an increase in the average number of hours worked compared to nearby months. The number of hours amounted to 156.7 million per week.

Unemployment

In September 2022, there were 359 000 unemployed people aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This is a decrease of 96 000 compared with September 2021. It corresponds to an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points. The number of unemployed women decreased by 52 000 to 186 000 and the number of unemployed men decreased by 44 000 to 172 000. The female unemployment rate was 7.1 percent, a decrease of 2.0 percentage point, and the male unemployment rate was 5.9 percent, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points. There were 125 000 unemployed young people aged 15–24, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 20.8 percent. Among unemployed young people, 87 000 persons were full-time students.

Among people aged 15–74 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in both the number and share of unemployed people compared to nearby months. In September 2022 there were 398 000 unemployed people, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 139 000, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 20.6 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In September 2022, the unused labour supply averaged 19.4 million hours per week, which is 3.1 million hours less compared to September 2021. The unused labour supply corresponds to 485 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

There were 304 000 underemployed people in September 2022, of which 150 000 were women and 154 000 were men. The number of latent job seekers was 263 000. Among the latent job seekers, 149 000 were women and 114 000 were men.