– The labor market remained subdued in April and the unemployment is still on a higher level. Meanwhile, there are positive signs like an increase in seasonally adjusted and smoothed employment, says Stefan Andersson, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at SCB.

Labour force

In April 2025, there were 5 774 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 760 000 women in the labour force and the number of men amounted to 3 013 000. The labour force participation rate was 75.7 percent. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 73.6 percent and among men, it was 77.9 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show an increase in both the number and the share of people in the labour force, compared to recent months. There were 5 763 000 people in the labour force, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 75.6 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 amounted to 5 261 000 in April 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Of these, 2 518 000 were women and 2 743 000 were men. The employment rate stood at 69.0 percent. The employment rate among women was 67.1 percent and among men it was 70.9 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, 5 269 000 people aged 15–74 were employed and the employment rate was 69.1 percent, representing an increase in both the number and the share of employed people, compared to recent months.

Employees

In April 2025, there were 4 780 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. The number of employees among women was
2 365 000 and the number among men was 2 415 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 175 000, of which 2 042 000 were women and 2 132 000 were men. The number of temporary employees amounted to 605 000. Among women, the number of temporary employees was 322 000 and among men, the number was 283 000.

The number of employees increased compared to recent months and amounted to 4 776 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Of these, 4 147 000 were permanent employees and 630 000 were temporary employees. Compared to recent months, the number of permanent employees increased.

Hours worked

Total hours worked in April 2025 averaged 157.0 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of hours worked averaged 156.2 million per week.

Unemployment

In April 2025, 513 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent. The number of unemployed women amounted to 243 000 and the number of unemployed men was 270 000. The unemployment rate stood at 8.8 percent for women and 9.0 percent among for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 161 000. Of the long-term umployment, 77 000 were women were and 84 000 were men. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 167 000. The youth unemployment rate stood at 23.8 percent. Among unemployed young people, 135 000 were full-time students.

Compared to recent months, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 decreased to 494 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also decreased, amounting to 8.6 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 157 000 and the unemployment rate stood at 22.8 percent. Compared to recent months, this represents a decrease in both the number and the share of unemployed young people.

Unused labour supply

Collectively, unemployed people, underemployed people and latent jobseekers constitute the unused labour supply. In April 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 23.4 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 585 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working weeks.

2025-06-17 at 08:00.