Employment showed continued positive development in the third quarter of 2026

- Both the employment rate and the number of employed people continue to show positive development during the third quarter of 2026. This development is mainly driven by women, whose employment shows an upward trend, says Felicia Blom, a statistician with the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden (SCB).

The labour force

In the third quarter of 2026, there were 5 877 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted, an increase of 74 000 people compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous year. The number of women in the labour force increased by 58 000 to
2 821 000, and the number of men was 3 056 000. The labour force participation rate was 76.8 percent, an increase of 0.8 percentage points. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 74.8 percent, an increase of 1.3 percentage points and among men, it was 78.8 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show an increase in both the number and the share of people in the labour force, compared to adjacent quarters. There were 5 824 000 people in the labour force, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 76.1 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 increased by 74 000 compared to the same quarter last year and amounted to 5 398 000, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 579 000 employed women, representing an increase of 46 000 people, and the number of employed men was 2 819 000. The employment rate stood at 70.6 percent, an increase of 0.8 percentage points. The employment rate among women increased by 1.0 percentage points and amounted to 68.4 percent. Among men it was 72.7 percent. The number of employed young people aged 15–24 years amounted to 618 000, an increase of 38 000. The employment rate was 50.0 percent, an increase of 2.5 percentage points.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, 5 318 000 people aged 15–74 were employed and the employment rate was 69.5 percent. Both the number and the share of employed people increased compared to adjacent quarters. 

Employees

In the third quarter of 2026, there were 4 903 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data, an increase of 83 000 compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous year. Of these, 2 428 000 employees were women, an increase of 44 000 and men increased by 39 000 to 2 475 000 employees. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 129 000. Of these, 2 011 000 were women and 2 118 000 were men. The number of temporary employees amounted to 774 000, an increase of 61 000 people compared to the corresponding quarter in the previous year. Among them, 417 000 were women and men increased by 37 000 to 358 000.

The number of employees increased compared to adjacent quarters and amounted to 4 828 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Among the employees, 4 130 000 were permanent employees and 699 000 were temporary employees. Compared to adjacent quarters, the number of temporary employees increased.

Hours worked

Total hours worked in the third quarter of 2026 averaged 139.2 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. Among women, the average number of hours worked per week, amounted to 62.3 million and among men it amounted to 76.9 million. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of hours worked averaged 156.3 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 2026, 4 247 000 people worked full time. Among them, 1 902 000 were women and 2 345 000 were men. In total, 258 000 people worked short part-time (1–19 hours), and the number of people who worked long part time (20–34 hours) amounted to 618 000 people.

The average actual hours worked among employed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 25.9 hours per week in the third quarter of 2026. The average actual hours worked among women amounted to 24.2 hours per week and among men it was 27.4 hours per week.

Underemployment

Among employed people aged 15–74, 400 000 were underemployed, an increase of 33 000 people. The number of underemployed women increased by 29 000 to 192 000 and
208 000 were men. Underemployed people accounted for 7.4 percent of employed people.

Unemployment

In the third quarter of 2026, 479 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.1 percent. Among these, 242 000 were women and 237 000 were men. The unemployment rate stood at 8.6 percent for women and at 7.7 percent for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 163 000. Of these, 71 000 were women and 92 000 were men. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 139 000. The youth unemployment rate stood at 18.4 percent. 

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 506 000 unemployed people aged 15–74, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 169 000 and the unemployment rate stood at 23.4 percent. Compared to adjacent quarters, this represents a decrease in both the number and the share of unemployed young people. 

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 2026, there were 1 772 000 people not in the labour force aged 15–74 years, a decrease of 57 000 people. The number of women not in the labour force was 949 000, a decrease of 46 000 and the number of men was 822 000.

Among people not in the labour force, 807 000 were retired, 292 000 people reported that they were on long-term sick leave and 320 000 were full-time students. The number of full-time students not inte the labour force decreased by 22 000.

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 299 000 latent job seekers aged 15–74 years in the third quarter of 2026. Among the latent job seekers, 148 000 were women and 151 000 were men. Among young people aged 15–24 years, the number of latent job seekers was 170 000.

Unused labour supply

Collectively, unemployed people, underemployed people and latent jobseekers constitute the unused labour supply. In the third quarter of 2026, the unused labour supply averaged 25.6 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 640 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working 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 labour force participation rate among people aged 20–66 years increased by 0.7 percentage points and amounted to 87.8 percent in the third quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Among women, the participation rate was 85.8 percent, an increase of 1.3 percentage points and among men it was 89.7 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show a labour force participation rate of 87.1 percent. Compared to adjacent quarters, the labour force participation rate increased.

In the third quarter of 2026, the share of employed people aged 20–66 years increased by 0.7 percentage points and was 81.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among women, the share of employed people was 79.5 percent and among men it was 83.4 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the employment rate was 80.8 percent. The share of employed people increased compared to adjacent quarters.

According to non-seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate in the age group 20–66 years amounted to 7.2 percent. The unemployment rate was 7.3 percent among women and 7.0 percent among men. The seasonally adjusted and smoothed unemployment rate was 7.3 percent.

Swedish born and foreign born people aged 20–66 years

The labour force participation rate among Swedish born people aged 20–66 years amounted to 88.4 percent in the third quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the labour force participation rate increased by 1.6 percentage points to 87.2 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 89.5 percent. Among foreign born people aged 20–66 years, the labour force participation rate was 86.2 percent. The corresponding figure among foreign born women was 82.1 percent and among foreign born men it amounted to 90.3 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed, the labour force participation rate among the Swedish was 87.6 percent, an increase compared to adjacent quarters. The labour force participation rate among foreign-born individuals amounted to 85.8 percent.

In the third quarter of 2026, the share of employed Swedish born people aged 20–66 years increased by 0.8 percentage points and amounted to 84.1 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the employment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 83.4 percent, and among Swedish born men it was 84.8 percent. The employment rate was 74.6 percent among foreign born people. Among foreign born women the corresponding rate was 69.5 percent and among foreign born men it was 79.7 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the employment rate was 83.4 among Swedish born people and 73.9 among foreign born people. The employment rate among Swedish born increased compared to adjacent quarters.

The unemployment rate among Swedish born people aged 20–66 years amounted to 4.8 percent in the third quarter of 2026, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the unemployment rate was 4.4 percent and for Swedish born men it was 5.2 percent. The unemployment rate among foreign born was 13.5 percent. Among foreign born women, it was 15.3 percent. The unemployment rate among foreign born men decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 11.8 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show that the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent among Swedish born people and among foreign born  13.8 percent.