- The labour market remains subdued, for example, temporary employment continues to decrease, says Louise Stener, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In May 2024, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 amounted to 5 682 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is a decrease of 71 000 people compared to the same month last year. The number of women in the labour force was 2 716 000, and the number of men was 2 966 000. The labour force participation rate amounted to 74.9 percent. The labour force participation rate for women was 72.8 percent, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points, and for men it was 76.9 percent.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 718 000. This corresponds to a labour force participation rate of 75.3 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 decreased by 112 000 compared to the corresponding month last year. There were 5 187 000 employed people aged 15–74 in May 2024, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed women was 2 491 000, a decrease by 75 000 people, and the number of employed men was 2 695 000. The employment rate amounted to 68.3 percent, a decrease by 1.5 percentage points. The employment rate among women amounted to 66.8 percent, a decrease by 2.1 percentage points, and for men it was 69.9 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed persons aged 15–74 amounted to 5 239 000, which corresponds to an employment rate of 69.0 percent.

Employees

In May 2024, there were 4 705 000 employees, according to not seasonally adjusted data. This is a decrease of 74 000 people compared to the corresponding month last year. The number of employees among women was 2 358 000, a decrease of 67 000 people. The number employees among men amounted to 2 347 000.The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 104 000. The number of permanent employed women amounted to 2 011 000 and the number of permanent employed men was 2 094 000. The number of temporary employees was 601 000, a decrease of 116 000 people compared to the same month last year. The number of temporary employed women was 348 000, a decrease of 65 000 people, and the number of temporary employed men amounted to 253 000, a decrease of 51 000 people.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of employees amounted to 4 739 000, of which the number of permanent employees was 4 099 000 and the number of temporary employees was 640 000. 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 May 2024 amounted to 159.8 million per week, according to not seasonally adjusted data.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the average number of hours worked was 157.6 million per week.

Unemployment

In May 2024, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 496 000, not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate amounted to 8.7 percent. The number of unemployed women amounted to 225 000 and the number of unemployed men was 271 000. The unemployment rate for women amounted to 8.3 percent, and for men it was 9.1 percent. The number of long-term unemployed, unemployed for at least 27 weeks, was 148 000. The number of long-term unemployed women was 57 000, while the number of men was 91 000. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 185 000. The youth unemployment rate was 26.7 percent. Among unemployed young people, 136 000 were full-time students.

Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of unemployed among people aged 15-74 increased and amounted to 480 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also increased and amounted to 8.4 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed increased and amounted to 166 000. The unemployment rate was 24.1 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together constitute the unused labour supply. In May 2024, the unused labour supply averaged 23.9 million hours per week. This corresponds to 598 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

2024-07-26, at 08:00.