The decrease in unemployment between January 2025 and January 2026 may be overestimated due to the unusually high estimation of unemployment in January 2025. 

- January is seeing positive labour market developments and employment continues to increase, says Felicia Holm, statistician at Statistics Sweden’s Labour Force Surveys.

Labour force

In January 2026, there were 5 684 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 713 000 women in the labour force and the number of men amounted to 2 971 000. The labour force participation rate was 74.4 percent. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 72.1 percent and among men, it was 76.7 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 5 799 000 people in the labour force, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 75.9 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 increased by 85 000 compared to the same month last year and amounted to 5 194 000 in January 2026, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 487 000 employed women and the number of employed men was 2 707 000. The employment rate stood at 68.0 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage points. The employment rate among women was 66.1 percent and among men it was 69.8 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, 5 297 000 people aged 15–74 were employed and the employment rate was 69.3 percent, representing an increase in both the number and the share of employed people, compared to recent months.

Employees

In January 2026, there were 4 704 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. 2 347 000 employees were women and 2 357 000 employees were men. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 137 000. Of the permanently employed 2 041 000 were women and 2 096 000 were men. The number of temporary employees amounted to 567 000, of which 306 000 were women and 261 000 were men.

The number of employees increased compared to recent months and amounted to 4 786 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Of these, 4 134 000 were permanent employees and 652 000 were temporary employees. Compared to recent months, both the number of permanent employees and temporary employees increased.

Hours worked

Total hours worked in January 2026 averaged 128.6 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of hours worked averaged 155.7 million per week.

Unemployment

In January 2026, 490 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted, a decrease of 102 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points. The decrease in unemployment between January 2025 and January 2026 may be overestimated due to the unusually high estimation of unemployment in January 2025. There were 225 000 unemployed women in January 2026, down 66 000, and 264 000 men were unemployed. The unemployment rate stood at 8.3 percent for women, down 2.3 percentage points. The unemployment rate stood at 8.9 percent for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 191 000. There were 94 000 women in long-term unemployment and 98 000 men. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 148 000. The youth unemployment rate stood at 23.3 percent, a decrease of 5.3 percentage points. Among unemployed young people, 106 000 were full-time students.

Compared to recent months, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 decreased to 502 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also decreased, amounting to 8.7 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 169 000. The unemployment rate among young people amounted to 23.9 percent, which is a decrease compared to recent months.

Unused labour supply

Collectively, unemployed people, underemployed people and latent jobseekers constitute the unused labour supply. In January 2026, the unused labour supply averaged 25.2 million hours per week. This is a decrease of 2.2 million hours compared to the corresponding month one year ago. The unused labour supply corresponds to 630 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working weeks.