- The labour market in november shows a slight improvement with an increase in the number of people employed, but with an unemployment remaining at an elevated level, says Krister Näsén, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at SCB.

Labour force

In November 2025, there were 5 746 000 people aged 15–74 in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 126 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year. There were 2 731 000 women in the labour force and the number of men amounted to 3 014 000, an increase of 81 000. The labour force participation rate was 75.2 percent, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Among women, the labour force participation rate was 72.6 percent. Among men, it was 77.7 percent, an increase of 1.9 percentage points.

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 5 787 000 people in the labour force, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 75.8 percent.

Employment

The number of employed people aged 15-74 increased by 73 000 compared to the same month last year and amounted to 5 275 000 in November 2025, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 514 000 employed women and the number of employed men was 2 761 000. The employment rate stood at 69.0 percent. The employment rate among women was 66.8 percent and 71.2 percent among men.

The number of employed people aged 15–74 amounted to 5 267 000, seasonally adjusted and smoothed. This corresponds to an employment rate of 69.0 percent.

Employees

In November 2025, there were 4 744 000 employees, according to non-seasonally adjusted data. 2 361 000 employees were women and 2 383 000 employees were men. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 137 000. Of the permanently employed 2 003 000 were women and 2 134 000 were men. The number of temporary employees was 607 000, of which 358 000 were women and 249 000 men.

There were 4 759 000 employees according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, of whom 4 122 000 were permanent employees and 637 000 were temporary employees.

Hours worked

Total hours worked in November 2025 averaged 171.4 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data show an increase in the number of hours worked compared to recent months. The number of hours worked averaged 155.8 million per week.

Unemployment

In November 2025, 470 000 people aged 15–74 were unemployed, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent. There were 217 000 unemployed women and 253 000 unemployed men. The unemployment rate stood at 8.0 percent for women and 8.4 percent for men. The number of people in long-term unemployment (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) amounted to 167 000. There were 76 000 long-term unemployed among women, and 91 000 among men. The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 155 000 and the youth unemployment rate stood at 23.8 percent. Among unemployed young people, 100 000 were full-time students, an increase of 33 000 people compared to the corresponding month in the previous year.

Compared to recent months, the number of unemployed people aged 15-74 increased to 521 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also increased, amounting to 9.0 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 175 000 and the unemployment rate stood at 24.9 percent. Compared to recent months, this represents an increase 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 November 2025, the unused labour supply averaged 23.5 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 588 000 full-time jobs with 40-hour working weeks.