- The number of employed people is increasing in May compared with the corresponding period in the previous year. We also see that the number of temporary employees is increasing, and mainly among women, says Charlotte Breitz, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In May 2026, there were 5 848 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 790 000 women in the labour force and the number of men amounted to 3 058 000. The labour force participation rate was 76.5 percent. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 74.1 percent and among men it was 78.9 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 5 803 000 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 68 000 compared to the same month last year and amounted to 5 299 000 in May 2026, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 515 000 employed women and the number of employed men was 2 784 000. The employment rate stood at 69.4 percent. The employment rate among women was 66.8 percent and among men it was 71.8 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed people increased compared to recent months and amounted to 5 299 000. This corresponds to an employment rate of 69.3 percent.

Employees

In May 2026, there were 4 820 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. 2 384 000 employees were women and 2 436 000 employees were men. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 145 000, of which 2 004 000 were women and 2 141 000 were men. The number of temporary employees amounted to 676 000, an increase of 94 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. Among women, the number of temporary employees was 380 000, an increase of 58 000. Among men, the number of temporary employees was 296 000.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees increased compared to recent months and amounted to 4 798 000. Of these, 4 113 000 were permanent employees and 684 000 were temporary employees. Compared to recent months, the number of temporary employees increased.

Hours worked

Total hours worked averaged 163.1 million per week in May 2026, 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 May 2026, 549 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 9.4 percent. 274 000 women were unemployed and 275 000 men were unemployed. The unemployment rate stood at 9.8 percent for women and 9.0 percent for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 178 000. Among the long-term unemployed, 84 000 were women and 94 000 were men. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 207 000. The youth unemployment rate stood at 28.0 percent. Among unemployed young people, 173 000 were full-time students.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 504 000 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 174 000. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 24.4 percent.

Unused labour supply

Collectively, unemployed people, underemployed people and latent jobseekers constitute the unused labour supply. In May 2026, the unused labour supply averaged 25.7 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 643 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working weeks.