- In the first quarter of 2026, we are seeing a continued increase in employment, mainly among women and in the number of fixed-term employments. At the same time, the number of underemployed and long-term unemployed increased, says Ludvig Renberg, statistician at Statistics Sweden’s Labour Force Surveys.

The labour force

The number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 years amounted to 5 749 000 in the first quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force amounted to 2 749 000 and the number of men was 3 000 000. The relative labour force participation rate was 75.2. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 73.0 percent and among men, it was 77.4 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 804 000 in the first quarter of 2026, which corresponds to a labour force participation rate of 76.0 percent. Both the number and the share of people in the labour force increased compared to adjacent quarters.

Employment

In the first quarter of 2026, the number of employed people aged 15–74 years was 5 225 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 51 000 people. The employment rate was 68.4 percent, which is an increase of 0.5 percentage points. The number of employed women increased by 43 000 to 2 505 000, and the number of men was 2 720 000. The employment rate among women was 66.5 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage points, and among men it was 70.2 percent. The number of employed young people aged 15–24 years was 499 000, which is an increase of 25 000 people. This corresponds to an employment rate of 40.6 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of employed people, aged 15–74 years, amounted to 5 299 000 in the first quarter of 2026. This corresponds to an employment rate of 69.4 percent. Both the number of employed and the employment rate increased compared to adjacent quarters.

Employees

The number of employees was 4 727 000 in the first quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employees among women increased by 36 000 and amounted to 2 358 000 and among men it was 2 369 000. The number of permanent employees was 4 125 000, of which 2 017 000 were women and 2 108 000 were men. The number of fixed-term employees aged 15–74 was 602 000, which is an increase of 48 000 people. Among them 341 000 were women, an increase of 39 000 people and 262 000 were men.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees in the first quarter of 2026 was 4 793 000, an increase compared to adjacent quarters. Among the employees, 4 132 000 people had a permanent job and 662 000 a fixed-term job. The number of fixed-term employees increased compared to adjacent quarters.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked per week in the first quarter of 2026 amounted to 158.3 million, not seasonally adjusted. Among women the average number of hours worked amounted to 70.9 million and among men it amounted to 87.4 million. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the average number of hours worked per week amounted to 156.1 million.

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 2026, 4 080 000 people worked full time. Among them 1 830 000 were women, an increase of 41 000 and 2 250 000 were men. In total, 305 000 people worked short part-time (1–19 hours), and the number of people who worked long part time (20–34 hours) amounted to 598 000 people.

The average actual hours worked among employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 30.4 hours per week in the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of 0.7 hours. The average actual hours worked among women decreased by 0.6 hours and amounted to 28.4 hours per week. Among men it decreased by 0.9 hours to 32.2 hours per week.

Underemployment

Among employed people aged 15–74, 401 000 were underemployed, which is an increase of 49 000 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The number of underemployed women was 176 000 and the number of men increased by 38 000 to 225 000. Underemployed people accounted for 7.7 percent of employed people.

Unemployment

In the first quarter of 2026, the number of unemployed among people aged 15–74 years amounted to 524 000, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. The number of unemployed women amounted to 244 000, and the number of men amounted to 280 000. The unemployment rate for women was 8.9 percent, and for men it was 9.3 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of unemployed among people aged 15–74 amounted to 505 000 in the first quarter of 2026. The unemployment rate was 8.7 percent, which is a decrease compared to adjacent quarters.

In the first quarter of 2026, there were 194 000 long-term unemployed people (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 22 000 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Among them 93 000 were women and 101 000 were men.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years was 179 000, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 26.4 percent. Among the unemployed young people, 134 000 were full-time students, which is an increase of 20 000 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 173 000. The unemployment rate among young people amounted to 24.2 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 2026, there were 1 891 000 people not in the labour force aged 15–74 years, of which 1 016 000 were women and 875 000 were men.

Among people not in the labour force, 790 000 were retired, 653 000 were full-time students and 288 000 people reported that they were on long-term sick leave.

Latent job seekers

People who can and would like to work, but who are not looking for work, are called latent job seekers. There were 275 000 latent job seekers aged 15–74 years in the first quarter of 2026. Among the latent job seekers 142 000 were women and 133 000 were men. Among young people aged 15–24 years, the number of latent job seekers was 137 000.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In the first quarter of 2026, the unused labour supply averaged 24.7 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 618 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.

Labour market for people aged 20–66 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 20–66 years is described in the following section.

The relative labour force participation rate among people aged 20–66 years amounted to 86.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Among women, the participation rate was 84.1 percent and among men it was 88.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a labour force participation rate of 86.9 percent.

In the first quarter of 2026, the share of employed people aged 20–66 years was 79.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among women, the share of employed people was 77.9 percent and among men it was 81.6 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the employment rate was 80.6 percent, which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters.

According to non-seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate in the age group 20–66 years amounted to 7.6 percent. The unemployment rate was 7.3 percent among women and 7.8 percent among men. The seasonally adjusted and smoothed unemployment rate was 7.3 percent, which is a decrease compared to adjacent quarters.

Swedish born and foreign born people aged 20–66 years

The relative labour force participation rate among Swedish born people aged 20–66 years amounted to 86.5 percent in the first quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the labour force participation rate was 85.1 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 88.0 percent. Among foreign born people aged 20–66 years, the relative labour force participation rate was 85.8 percent. The corresponding figure among foreign born women was 81.4 percent and among foreign born men it was 90.0 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the labour force participation rate among the Swedish born was 87.1 percent, which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters, and 86.4 percent among foreign born.

In the first quarter of 2026, the share of employed Swedish born people aged 20–66 years amounted to 82.2 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the employment rate was 81.5 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 82.9 percent. The employment rate was 73.3 percent among foreign born people, which is an increase of 1.7 percentage points. Among foreign born women the corresponding rate was 68.3 percent and among foreign born men it increased by 2.4 percentage points to 78.2 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the employment rate was 82.9 among Swedish born people and 74.2 among foreign born people. The employment rate among Swedish born and foreign born both increased compared to adjacent quarters.

The relative unemployment rate among Swedish born people aged 20–66 years amounted to 5.0 percent in the first quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent and for Swedish born men it was 5,8 percent. The unemployment rate among foreign born decreased by 2.0 percentage points and amounted to 14.5 percent. Among foreign born women it was 16.1 percent and among foreign born men it decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 13.1 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent among Swedish born people. Among foreign born the corresponding rate was 14.1 percent, which is a decrease compared to adjacent quarters.