– In the first quarter of 2025 the unemployment increased. At the same time the number of permanent employees increased, says Louise Stener, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at SCB.

The labour force

The number of people in the labour force aged 15-74 years increased by 43 000 and amounted to 5 707 000 in the first quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force amounted to 2 719 000 and the number of men was 2 989 000. The relative labour force participation rate amounted to 74.9 percent. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 72.5 percent and among men it was 77.2 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data in the first quarter of 2025, both the number and the share of people in the labour force increased compared to adjacent quarters. The number of people amounted to 5 749 000, which corresponds to a share of 75.4 percent.

Employment

In the first quarter of 2025, the number of employed persons amounted to 5 174 000 people aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an employment rate of 67.9 percent. Among women, the number of employed was 2 462 000 and among men the number of employed amounted to 2 712 000. The employment rate for women was 65.6 percent and among men it was 70.1 percent. There were 474 000 young people aged 15–24 years in employment. This corresponds to an employment rate of 39.2 percent.

For people aged 15–74 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the share of employed people compared to adjacent quarters. The number of employed people in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to 5 246 000 which corresponds to an employment rate of 68.8 percent.

Employees

IIn the first quarter of 2025, there were 4 688 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed women was 2 323 000 and the number of employed men amounted to 2 365 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 134 000 an increase of 57 000. Among permanent employees, the number of women increased by 39 000 and amounted to 2 020 000, while the number of men was 2 113 000. There were 554 000 temporary employees. Among them 302 000 were women and 252 000 were men.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of employees compared to adjacent quarters. The number of employees amounted to 4 754 000. Among these, 4 129 000 had a permanent employment and 624 000 a temporary employment. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of permanent employed.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked per week in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to 160.5 million hours, not seasonally adjusted. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of hours worked averaged to 156.4 million per week. This is an increase compared to adjacent quarters.

Most employed people have an agreed working time of 35 hours or more per week, that is, full-time work. In the first quarter of 2025, 4 049 000 people worked full time. Among them 1 789 000 were women and the number of men was 2 261 000. In total, 284 000 people worked short part-time (1–19 hours), and the number of people who worked long part time (20-34 hours) amounted to 600 000 people.

The average actual hours worked among employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 31.1 hours per week in the first quarter of 2025. Women worked 29.0 hours per week and men 33.1 hours per week.

Underemployment

Among employed people aged 15–74 years, 352 000 were underemployed in the first quarter of 2025. The number of underemployed women amounted to 165 000 and the number of men was 187 000. Underemployed people accounted for 6.8 percent of employed people.

Unemployment

In the first quarter of 2025 the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years increased by 36 000 and amounted to 533 000, not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate amounted to 9.3 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage points. There were 257 000 unemployed women, an increase of 26 000. The number of unemployed men was 276 000. The unemployment rate for women was 9.4 percent and the corresponding number for men was 9.2 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years and the corresponding unemployment rate compared to adjacent quarters in the first quarter of 2025. The number of unemployed amounted to 502 000 which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, seasonally adjusted and smoothed.

There were 172 000 long-term unemployed people (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) aged 15–74 years in the first quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among long-term unemployed people, the number of women was 80 000 and the number of men amounted to 92 000.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 171 000 of which 114 000 were full-time students, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in the unemployment rate of people aged 15–24 years. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 164 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 23.9 percent.

Not in the labour force

The group 'not in the labour force' includes people who are not classified as employed nor as unemployed. In the first quarter of 2025, there were 1 914 000 people not in the labour force. The number of women not in the labour force was 1 033 000 and the number of men was 881 000.

Among people not in the labour force, 815 000 were retired, 658 000 were full-time students and 283 000 people reported that they were on long-term sick leave.

Latent job seekers

There were 276 000 latent job seekers aged 15–74 years in the first quarter of 2025. Among them 132 000 were women and 144 000 were men. Among young people aged 15–24 years, the number of latent job seekers was 136 000.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In the first quarter of 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 25.2 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 630 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

Labour market for people aged 20-65 years

The population presented by the LFS is comprised of people aged 15–74 years. However, labour market participation among younger and older in this age group is considerably lower for natural reasons, as this group contains large shares of students and retired people. To better approach what can be seen as the core of the actively working population, the situation of the age group 20–65 years is described in the following section.

The relative labour force participation rate among people aged 20–65 years amounted to 87.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the relative workforce participation rate was 84.9 percent, and for men 89.6 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a participation rate of 87.6 percent, which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters.

In the first quarter of 2025, the share of employed people aged 20–65 years was 80.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the share of employed people was 78.1 percent and for men it was 82.5 percent. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the employment rate amounted to 81.1 percent, which corresponds to an increase compared to adjacent quarters.

According to not seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate in the age group 20–65 years amounted to 8.0 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage points. The unemployment rate among women was 8.0 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage points and among men it was 7.9 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase of the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate was 7.5 percent according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data.

Swedish born and foreign born people aged 20–65 years

The relative labour force participation rate among Swedish born people aged 20–65 years was 87.7 percent in the first quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the labour force participation rate was 86.1 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 89.3 percent. Among foreign born people aged 20–65 years, the relative labour force participation rate was 86.2 percent. The corresponding figure among foreign born women was 82.0 percent and 90.4 percent among foreign born men. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the labour force participation rate was 88.1 percent among Swedish born people and 86.3 percent among foreign born people. This is an increase of labour force participation rate among both Swedish born and foreign born people compared to adjacent quarters.

In the first quarter of 2025, the share of employed Swedish born people aged 20–65 years amounted to 83.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the employment rate was 82.1 percent, and among Swedish born men the employment rate was 84.7 percent. The employment rate was 72.0 percent among foreign born people. Among foreign born women, the employment rate was 67.5 percent and among foreign born men 76.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the employment rate was 84.1 percent among Swedish born people and 72.9 percent among foreign born people. This was an increase among Swedish born people and a decrease among foreign born people compared to adjacent quarters.

The relative unemployment rate among Swedish born people aged 20–65 years increased by 0.5 percentage points and was 4.9 percent in the first quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, and the male unemployment rate was 5.2 percent. The unemployment rate among foreign born people was 16.4 percent. Among foreign born women it was 17.7 percent and among foreign born men the corresponding rate was 15.4 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent among Swedish born people and 15.5 percent among foreign born people. This was an increase among foreign born people, compared to adjacent quarters.

2025-05-23