- During the fourth quarter we can see an increase in both labour force participation and employment, indicating a slight improvement of the labour market. At the same time, we are seeing an increased number of unemployed full-time students and long-term unemployed, says Eyvind Löfgren, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

The labour force

The number of people in the labour force aged 15-74 years amounted to 5 732 000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase by 100 000 compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The number of women in the labour force amounted to 2 744 000, an increase of 58 000 people. The number of men was 2 988 000, an increase of 42 000 people. The relative labour force participation rate was 75.0, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 72.9 percent, which was an increase of 1.2 percentage points. Among men, the labour force participation rate increased by 0.9 percentage points to 77.1 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data in the fourth quarter of 2025, both the number and the share of people in the labour force increased compared to adjacent quarters. The number amounted to 5 796 000, which corresponds to a share of 75.9 percent.

Employment

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of employed people aged 15-74 years was 5 247 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 53 000 people. The employment rate was 68.7 percent, which is an increase of 0.5 percentage points. Among women, the number of employed people was 2 519 000, an increase of 51 000. The number of employed men was 2 729 000. The employment rate among women was 66.9 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. The employment rate among men was 70.4 percent. The number of employed young people aged 15–24 was 505 000, corresponding to an employment rate of 41.1 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of employed people, aged 15-74, amounted to 5 277 000 in the fourth quarter of 2025. The employment rate was 69.1 percent. Both the number of employed and the employment rate increased compared to adjacent quarters.

Employees

The number of employees was 4 732 000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employees among women increased by 38 000 and amounted to 2 360 000. The number of employees among men was 2 372 000. The number of permanent employees was 4 119 000, of which 2 018 000 were women and 2 100 000 were men. The number of fixed-term employees aged 15–74 was 613 000, of which 342 000 were women and 272 000 were men.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 4 768 000. Among the employees, 4 126 000 people had a permanent job and 642 000 a fixed-term job.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked per week in the fourth quarter of 2025 amounted to 165.7 million, not seasonally adjusted. Among women, the average number of hours worked amounted to 74.5 million, which is a calendar adjusted increase of 2.8 percent compared to fourth quarter of 2024. Among men, the average number of hours worked was 91.3 million. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the average number of hours worked per week amounted to 156.2. 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 fourth quarter of 2025, 4 109 000 people worked full time. Among them, 1 859 000 were women, an increase of 73 000. The number of men working full time was 2 250 000. In total, 298 000 people worked short part-time (1–19 hours), and the number of people who worked long part time (20-34 hours) amounted to 586 000 people.

The average actual hours worked among employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 31.7 hours per week in the fourth quarter of 2025. The average actual hours worked among women amounted to 29.6 hours per week. Men worked on average 33.6 hours per week.

Underemployment

Among employed people aged 15-74, 379 000 were underemployed, which is an increase of 33 000 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The number of underemployed women was 166 000. The number of underemployed men increased by 34 000 to 213 000. Underemployed people accounted for 7.2 percent of employed people.

Unemployment

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the number of unemployed among people aged 15–74 increased by 47 000 and amounted to 485 000, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, which is an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The number of unemployed women amounted to 226 000, and the number of unemployed men increased by 40 000 to 259 000. The unemployment rate for women was 8.2 percent, and for men it increased by 1.3 percentage points to 8.7 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of unemployed amounted to 519 000 in the fourth quarter of 2025. The unemployment rate was 9.0 percent. Both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate increased compared to adjacent quarters.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, there were 175 000 long-term unemployed people (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) aged 15–74, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 24 000 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The number of long-term unemployed women amounted to 76 000 and the number of long-term unemployed men increased by 22 000 to 98 000.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 was 147 000, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 22.6 percent. Among the unemployed young people, 101 000 were full-time students, which is an increase of 24 000 compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of unemployed young people aged 15-24 amounted to 174 000, which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters. The unemployment rate among young people also increased and amounted to 24.6 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 fourth quarter of 2025, there were 1 908 000 people not in the labour force aged 15-74 years, a decrease of 76 000 people compared to the same quarter of 2024. The number of women not in the labour force was 1 019 000, a decrease of 43 000. The number of men not in the labour force was 889 000, a decrease of 33 000.

Among people not in the labour force, 797 000 were retired, 677 000 were full-time students and 292 000 people reported that they were on long-term sick leave. The number of retired decreased by 29 000.

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 319 000 latent job seekers aged 15–74 years in the fourth quarter of 2025. Among the latent job seekers 157 000 were women and 162 000 were men. Among young people aged 15–24 years, the number of latent job seekers was 177 000.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 24.2 million hours per week. This is an increase of 1.2 million hours compared to the same quarter last year. The unused labour supply corresponds to 605 000 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 fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 0.8 percentage points, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the participation rate was 85.3 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage points, and for men it was 89.3 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a participation rate of 87.8 percent, which is an increase of compared to adjacent quarters.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the share of employed people aged 20–65 years was 80.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the share of employed people was 79.2 percent, an increase of 1.2 percentage points, and among men it was 82.4 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the employment rate was 81.1 percent.

According to not seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate in the age group 20–65 years amounted to 7.5 percent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points. The unemployment rate among women was 7.2 percent and among men it increased by 1.1 percentage points to 7.7 percent. The seasonally adjusted and smoothed unemployment rate was 7.7 percent, which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters.

Swedish born and foreign born people aged 20–65 years

The relative labour force participation rate among Swedish born people aged 20–65 years increased by 0.7 percentage points to 87.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the labour force participation rate was 86.2 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 88.9 percent. Among foreign born people aged 20–65 years, the relative labour force participation rate was 86.6 percent. The corresponding figure among foreign born women was 83.0 percent and among foreign born men it was 90.1 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the labour force participation rate among the Swedish born was 88.1 percent. Compared to adjacent quarters, the labour force participation rate increased among foreign born to 87.1 percent.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the share of employed Swedish born people aged 20–65 years amounted to 83.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the employment rate was 82.6 percent, and among Swedish born men the employment rate was 84.4 percent. The employment rate was 73.7 percent among foreign born people. Among foreign born women the corresponding rate was 70.3 percent and among foreign born men it was 77.0 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the employment rate was 83.7 among the Swedish born people and 74.0 among foreign born people. The employment rate among foreign born increased compared to adjacent quarters.

The relative unemployment rate among Swedish born people aged 20–65 years increased by 0.5 percentage points to 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. Among Swedish born men the unemployment rate increased by 1.1 percentage points to 5.2 percent. The unemployment rate among foreign born people was 14.9 percent. Among foreign born women it was 15.3 percent and among foreign born men the corresponding rate was 14.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent among Swedish born people, which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters. The unemployment rate among foreign born was 15.0 percent.