- The labour market was restrained in the third quarter, however, we saw that the number of permanent employees among young people increased for the third quarter in a row, says Sandra Medenica, 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 5 803 000 in the third quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. The number of women in the labour force amounted to 2 763 000. The number of men increased by 35 000 and amounted to 3 040 000. The relative labour force participation rate amounted to 76.0 percent. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 73.5 percent and among men it was 78.5 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data in the third quarter of 2025, the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 764 000, which corresponds to a share of 75.5 percent.

Employment

In the third quarter of 2025, the number of employed persons amounted to 5 324 000 people aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an employment rate of 69.8 percent. Among women, the number of employed was 2 533 000 and among men the number of employed amounted to 2 791 000. The employment rate for women was 67.4 percent and among men it was 71.1 percent. There were 580 000 young people aged 15–24 years in employment. This corresponds to an employment rate of 47.5 percent.

For people aged 15–74 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the number of employed people in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to 5 261 000, which corresponds to an employment rate of 68.9 percent.

Employees

In the third quarter of 2025, there were 4 821 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employees among women was 2 384 000 and the number of employees among men amounted to 2 437 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 107 000. Among women, the number of permanent employees was 1 991 000 and for men the number was 2 116 000. The number of permanent employees among young people aged 15–24 increased by 22 000 and amounted to 261 000 people. There were 714 000 temporary employees aged 15–74 years. Among them 393 000 were women and 321 000 were men.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of employees amounted to 4 765 000. Among these, 4 123 000 had a permanent employment and 642 000 a temporary employment. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of temporary employees and a decrease in the number of permanent employees.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked per week in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to 138.9 million hours, not seasonally adjusted. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of hours worked averaged to 155.0 million per week.

Most employed people have an agreed working time of 35 hours or more per week, that is, full-time work. In the third quarter of 2025, 4 204 000 people worked full time. Among them 1 879 000 were women and the number of men was 2 324 000. In total, 238 000 people worked short part-time (1–19 hours), and the number of people who worked long part time (20-34 hours) amounted to 616 000 people.

The average actual hours worked among employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 26.1 hours per week in the third quarter of 2025. The average actual hours worked among women amounted to 24.4 hours per week. Men worked 27.8 hours per week.

Underemployment

Among employed people aged 15–74 years, 367 000 were underemployed in the third quarter of 2025. The number of underemployed women was 162 000 and the corresponding number for men amounted to 205 000. Underemployed people accounted for 6.9 percent of employed people.

Unemployment

In the third quarter of 2025 the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 478 000, not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate amounted to 8.2 percent. There were 230 000 unemployed women. The number of unemployed men was 248 000. The unemployment rate for women was 8.3 percent and the corresponding number for men was 8.2 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of unemployed amounted to 503 000, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent.

There were 175 000 long-term unemployed people (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) aged 15–74 years in the third quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among long-term unemployed people, the number of women was 81 000 and the number of men amounted to 94 000.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 148 000 of which 48 000 were full-time students, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 20.3 percent. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 166 000 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 third quarter of 2025, there were 1 828 000 people not in the labour force. The number of women not in the labour force was 995 000 and the number of men was 834 000.

Among people not in the labour force, 819 000 were retired, 342 000 were full-time students and 293 000 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 315 000 latent job seekers aged 15–74 years in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 39 000 people. Among the latent job seekers 150 000 were women and 165 000 were men, an increase of 26 000. Among young people aged 15–24 years, the number of latent job seekers was 176 000, an increase of 27 000 people compared to the same quarter of 2024.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In the third quarter of 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 25.9 million hours per week. This is an increase of 1.6 million hours compared to the same quarter last year. The unused labour supply corresponds to 648 000 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 87.9 percent in the third quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the relative workforce participation rate was 85.4 percent, and for men 90.3 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a participation rate of 87.6 percent, which is a decrease compared to adjacent quarters.

In the third quarter of 2025, the share of employed people aged 20–65 years was 81.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the share of employed people was 79.4 percent and for men it was 83.7 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 7.2 percent. The unemployment rate among women was 7.0 percent and among men it was 7.3 percent. The seasonally adjusted and smoothed unemployment rate was 7.5 percent.

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 88.2 percent in the third quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the labour force participation rate was 86.8 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 89.6 percent. Among foreign born people aged 20–65 years, the relative labour force participation rate was 87.1 percent. The corresponding figure among foreign born women was 81.8 percent and among foreign born men, the labor force participation rate increased by 1.9 percentage points to 92.2 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the labor force participation rate among the foreign born decreased compared to adjacent quarters to 87.9 percent, while it increased among the foreign born, to 86.8 percent.

In the third quarter of 2025, the share of employed Swedish born people aged 20–65 years amounted to 84.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the employment rate was 83.1 percent, and among Swedish born men the employment rate was 85.4 percent. The employment rate was 74.6 percent among foreign born people. Among foreign born men the corresponding rate was 79.3 percent and among foreign born women it was 69.7 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed the employment rate decreased among Swedish born people compared to adjacent quarters to 83.7 percent. Among foreign born people the employment rate increased and amounted to 74.0 percent.

The relative unemployment rate among Swedish born people aged 20–65 years was 4.5 percent in the third quarter of 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent and among the men it was 4.7 percent. The unemployment rate among foreign born people was 14.4 percent. Among foreign born women it was 14.8 percent and among foreign born men the corresponding rate was 14.0 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent among Swedish born people which is an increase compared to adjacent quarters. The unemployment rate among foreign born people decreased and amounted to 14,8 percent.