- The number of permanent employees increased in May. At the same time, unemployment remains at a higher level, says Elin Ottosson Bixo, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at SCB.

Labour force

In May 2025, there were 5 792 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 110 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. There were 2 762 000 women in the labour force. The number of men increased by 64 000 and amounted to 3 030 000. The labour force participation rate was 76.0 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 73.6 percent and the labour force participation rate among men increased by 1.4 percentage points to 78.3 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 5 773 000 people in the labour force, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 75.7 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 amounted to 5 231 000 in May 2025, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 477 000 employed women. The number of employed men amounted to 2 755 000, up 59 000. The employment rate stood at 68.6 percent. The employment rate among women was 66.0 percent and among men it was 71.2 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, 5 270 000 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 May 2025, there were 4 767 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. 2 340 000 employees were women. Among men, the number of employees amounted to 2 426 000, up 79 000. The number of permanent employees increased by 81 000 compared to the same month last year and amounted to 4 185 000. 2 018 000 women were permanent employees. The number of permanent employees among men increased by 73 000 to 2 167 000. The number of temporary employees amounted to 582 000. The number among women were 322 000 and among men 260 000.

The number of employees increased compared to recent months and amounted to 4 784 000 according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. Of these, 4 162 000 were permanent employees and 622 000 were temporary employees. Compared to recent months, the number of permanent employees increased.

Hours worked

Total hours worked in May 2025 averaged 167.4 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of hours worked averaged 156.1 million per week.

Unemployment

In May 2025, 561 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted, an increase of 66 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, an increase of 1.0 percentage points. The number of unemployed women increased by 61 000 and amounted to 286 000. The number of unemployed men were 276 000. The unemployment rate stood at 10.3 percent for women, up 2.0 percentage points, and the unemployment rate stood at 9.1 percent for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 185 000. Of the long-term unemployed, 78 000 were women and 107 000 were men. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 203 000. The youth unemployment rate stood at 28.6 percent. Among unemployed young people, 158 000 were full-time students.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 503 000 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 161 000. The unemployment rate among young people amounted to 23.3 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 May 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 25.8 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 645 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working weeks.

In May 2025, the number of underemployed people was 392 000, an increase of 52 000. The number of underemployed women was 188 000 and the number of underemployed men was 203 000.

2025-07-25 at 08:00.