Population by Labour market status, April 2026

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2026-06-26 8.00

People in employment aged 15 to 74 numbered 5 275 000 in April 2026. The number of employed increased by 30 000 people compared with April 2025. In the 20 to 65 age range, 279 000 people were unemployed. This equals a share of 5.4 percent expressed as a percentage of the labour force and a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared with the same period of the previous year.

People in employment

The number of people in employment aged 15 to 74 increased by 30 000 people in April compared to the same period the previous year, but the trend varies depending on sex and region of birth.

Percentage change in the number of employed compared to the same period the previous year, 15 to 74 years

	Inrikes födda kvinnor	Inrikes födda män	Utrikes födda kvinnor	Utrikes födda män	Totalt
202101	-2.5	-1.9	0.5	0.1	-1.7
202102	-2.3	-1.7	0.5	0.3	-1.5
202103	-2.2	-1.5	0.8	0.8	-1.3
202104	-1.2	-1.0	1.7	1.6	-0.6
202105	1.1	0.3	4.9	4.2	1.4
202106	1.8	0.9	6.2	5.8	2.3
202107	2.3	1.4	7.0	6.7	2.8
202108	2.3	1.6	7.0	7.1	2.9
202109	2.2	1.6	7.1	7.4	3.0
202110	2.1	1.4	7.0	7.8	2.9
202111	2.0	1.4	7.3	8.2	2.9
202112	1.8	1.6	7.0	8.7	3.0
202201	2.7	2.0	8.3	9.2	3.6
202202	2.4	1.7	8.1	9.0	3.4
202203	2.4	1.8	8.1	9.1	3.4
202204	2.5	1.7	8.5	9.2	3.5
202205	2.7	2.0	9.1	9.4	3.8
202206	2.4	1.8	9.0	9.0	3.5
202207	1.9	1.7	8.5	8.2	3.1
202208	1.4	1.4	7.8	7.6	2.7
202209	1.5	1.3	7.7	7.3	2.7
202210	1.8	1.3	7.6	7.0	2.8
202211	1.2	1.0	7.0	6.3	2.3
202212	1.0	0.6	6.6	5.6	1.9
202301	0.8	0.5	6.2	5.2	1.8
202302	0.9	0.6	6.1	5.2	1.8
202303	0.8	0.4	5.9	4.8	1.6
202304	0.7	0.3	5.6	4.3	1.4
202305	0.4	0.1	5.1	3.7	1.1
202306	0.4	0.0	4.9	3.3	1.0
202307	0.5	0.0	4.5	2.8	1.0
202308	0.2	-0.1	4.0	2.4	0.7
202309	0.3	-0.2	3.9	2.1	0.7
202310	0.0	-0.4	3.6	1.8	0.4
202311	0.1	-0.4	3.3	1.6	0.4
202312	0.0	-0.5	2.9	1.1	0.2
202401	0.1	-0.4	2.7	0.9	0.2
202402	-0.1	-0.5	2.5	0.6	0.1
202403	-0.1	-0.6	2.4	0.3	0.0
202404	-0.2	-0.6	2.1	0.1	-0.1
202405	-0.3	-0.7	1.9	0.0	-0.2
202406	-0.2	-0.6	1.6	-0.1	-0.2
202407	-0.2	-0.7	1.5	-0.4	-0.3
202408	-0.3	-0.8	1.9	-0.2	-0.3
202409	-0.3	-0.7	2.0	-0.1	-0.2
202410	-0.6	-0.8	1.7	0.0	-0.4
202411	-0.5	-0.7	1.8	0.1	-0.3
202412	-0.6	-0.8	1.9	0.2	-0.3
202501	-0.7	-0.8	1.8	0.2	-0.4
202502	-0.5	-0.7	2.0	0.5	-0.2
202503	-0.5	-0.6	2.0	0.6	-0.2
202504	-0.5	-0.5	2.0	0.7	-0.1
202505	-0.2	-0.2	2.3	1.0	0.2
202506	-0.4	-0.4	2.2	0.9	0.0
202507	-0.3	-0.3	2.1	1.0	0.1
202508	-0.3	-0.3	1.7	0.7	0.0
202509	0.0	-0.2	1.8	0.8	0.2
202510	0.0	-0.1	1.8	1.0	0.3
202511	0.1	0.0	1.9	1.2	0.4
202512	0.0	-0.1	1.8	1.1	0.3
202601	0.1	0.0	2.0	1.4	0.4
202602	0.1	0.0	2.0	1.4	0.4
202603	0.2	0.0	2.0	1.5	0.5
202604	0.2	0.2	2.1	1.6	0.6

Source

Statistics Sweden

In the 20 to 65 age range the employment rate – the number of employed people in relation to the population - was 79.1 percent among women and 80.7 percent among men. Compared with April 2025 the employment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points for men and 0.2 for women.

The unemployed

The number of unemployed people aged 20 to 65 in April was 279 000, which is a decrease of 12 000 compared to the same period the previous year.

The relative unemployment rate - the proportion of unemployed people in relation to the labour force - was 5.4 percent for both women and men. This equals a decreased unemployment rate among men of 0.3 percentage point and among women of 0.2 percentage points compared with the same period of 2025.

Unemployment is higher among foreign born people than among those born in Sweden. In January the unemployment rate was, among foreign born people 11.6 percent and among people born in Sweden 3.3 percent.

Change in the relative unemployment rate compared to the same period the previous year, 20 to 64 years

	Totalt	Inrikes födda män	Inrikes födda kvinnor	Utrikes födda män	Utrikes födda kvinnor
202101	1.3	1.1	0.9	2.2	1.7
202102	1.3	1.1	0.8	2.1	1.8
202103	1.1	0.9	0.7	1.9	1.8
202104	0.8	0.6	0.5	1.2	1.3
202105	0.1	0.1	0.0	-0.3	-0.1
202106	-0.6	-0.4	-0.4	-1.7	-1.0
202107	-0.9	-0.7	-0.7	-2.4	-1.8
202108	-1.1	-0.8	-0.8	-2.8	-2.0
202109	-1.2	-0.9	-0.8	-3.0	-2.2
202110	-1.2	-0.9	-0.8	-3.3	-2.2
202111	-1.3	-0.9	-0.8	-3.4	-2.4
202112	-1.3	-0.9	-0.7	-3.6	-2.3
202201	-1.5	-1.1	-0.9	-4.0	-2.9
202202	-1.6	-1.2	-0.9	-4.1	-2.9
202203	-1.6	-1.2	-0.9	-4.1	-2.9
202204	-1.5	-1.1	-0.9	-4.0	-3.0
202205	-1.5	-1.0	-0.8	-4.0	-3.1
202206	-1.5	-1.0	-0.8	-3.9	-3.3
202207	-1.3	-0.8	-0.7	-3.5	-3.1
202208	-1.2	-0.8	-0.6	-3.1	-2.8
202209	-1.1	-0.7	-0.5	-2.9	-2.7
202210	-1.0	-0.6	-0.5	-2.6	-2.6
202211	-0.8	-0.5	-0.4	-2.2	-2.4
202212	-0.7	-0.4	-0.3	-1.9	-2.2
202301	-0.6	-0.3	-0.3	-1.7	-2.0
202302	-0.6	-0.3	-0.2	-1.6	-1.9
202303	-0.5	-0.2	-0.2	-1.4	-1.9
202304	-0.4	-0.1	-0.2	-1.2	-1.7
202305	-0.3	0.0	-0.1	-0.9	-1.6
202306	-0.2	0.0	-0.1	-0.7	-1.4
202307	-0.1	0.1	0.0	-0.5	-1.1
202308	-0.1	0.1	0.0	-0.4	-1.0
202309	0.0	0.2	0.1	-0.2	-0.9
202310	0.1	0.2	0.1	-0.1	-0.7
202311	0.1	0.3	0.1	0.0	-0.6
202312	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	-0.4
202401	0.3	0.4	0.2	0.3	-0.2
202402	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.4	-0.2
202403	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.5	-0.2
202404	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.6	0.1
202405	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.6	0.0
202406	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.6	0.1
202407	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.8	0.3
202408	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.8	0.3
202409	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.8	0.4
202410	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.7	0.5
202411	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.7	0.7
202412	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.7	0.7
202501	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.7	0.7
202502	0.5	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.7
202503	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.7
202504	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.6
202505	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.5
202506	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.5
202507	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.3
202508	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.2
202509	0.2	0.2	0.2	-0.1	0.1
202510	0.1	0.1	0.1	-0.3	-0.1
202511	0.0	0.1	0.1	-0.5	-0.4
202512	-0.1	0.1	0.1	-0.7	-0.5
202601	-0.2	0.0	0.0	-1.0	-0.7
202602	-0.2	0.0	0.0	-1.0	-0.7
202603	-0.2	0.0	0.0	-1.1	-0.7
202604	-0.2	-0.1	0.0	-1.1	-0.7

Source

Statistics Sweden

Employed, 15 to 74 years

	April 2026	March 2026	April 2025	Change since April 2025 (%)
Employed	5 275 000	5 232 000	5 245 000	0.6
Women	2 556 000	2 536 000	2 541 000	0.6
Born in Sweden	1 975 000	1 960 000	1 972 000	0.2
Foreign born	581 000	576 000	569 000	2.1
Men	2 718 000	2 696 000	2 704 000	0.5
Born in Sweden	2 081 000	2 064 000	2 078 000	0.2
Foreign born	637 000	631 000	627 000	1.6

Source

Statistics Sweden

People in the labour force, 20 to 65 years

	April 2026	March 2026	April 2025	Change since April 2025
Employed	4 878 000	4 852 000	4 856 000	0.5
Women	2 368 000	2 357 000	2 356 000	0.5
Men	2 509 000	2 495 000	2 500 000	0.4
Employment rate (%)	79.9	79.5	79.7	0.2
Women	79.1	78.7	79.0	0.2
Born in Sweden	83.7	83.3	83.6	0.1
Foreign born	67.2	66.7	66.6	0.6
Men	80.7	80.2	80.4	0.3
Born in Sweden	83.8	83.3	83.7	0.1
Foreign born	72.3	71.8	71.5	0.8
Unemployment	279 000	290 000	291 000	-4.2
Women	134 000	139 000	138 000	-2.7
Born in Sweden	52 000	55 000	52 000	-0.3
Foreign born	82 000	84 000	86 000	-4.1
Men	144 000	151 000	153 000	-5.6
Born in Sweden	75 000	79 000	76 000	-1.4
Foreign born	70 000	72 000	77 000	-9.7
Relative unemployment rate (%)	5.4	5.6	5.7	-0.2
Women	5.4	5.6	5.5	-0.2
Born in Sweden	2.8	2.9	2.8	0.0
Foreign born	12.9	13.3	13.6	-0.7
Men	5.4	5.7	5.8	-0.3
Born in Sweden	3.8	4.0	3.8	-0.1
Foreign born	10.3	10.7	11.4	-1.1

Source

Statistics Sweden

People not in the labour force, 20 to 65 years

	April 2026	March 2026	April 2025	Change since April 2025 (%)
Students	197 000	201 000	199 000	-0.6
Women	112 000	114 000	112 000	-0.5
Men	86 000	87 000	87 000	-0.8
Retirees	63 000	66 000	67 000	-4.7
Women	32 000	34 000	34 000	-5.6
Men	31 000	32 000	32 000	-3.8
Sick	219 000	220 000	223 000	-1.6
Women	121 000	121 000	123 000	-1.9
Men	99 000	99 000	100 000	-1.2
Others	467 000	475 000	458 000	2.0
Women	225 000	229 000	220 000	2.4
Men	242 000	246 000	238 000	1.7

Source

Statistics Sweden

Definitions and explanations

BAS, Population by Labour market status, presents statistics based on administrative data concerning aspects such as number of people in employment, unemployed people, and people outside the labour force for the registered population aged 15 to 74. The statistics can be used to describe current status, but also the progression over time. It illuminates both the entire population and smaller groups, such as detailed age groups at the municipal level.

The statistics contain estimates of the number of people broken down by labour market status: Employed, unemployed, student, retiree, sick and others. The definition of labour market status is hierarchical, which means that a person can only be assigned one labour market status, and it is determined according to the order of precedence above.

The labour force consists of employed people and the unemployed.

The labour market status categories that are outside the labour force are student, retiree, sick and others. There are fewer people outside the labour force in the summer than during other parts of the year. This is mainly because some people who are students during term time work during the summer and are then classified as employed.

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Population by Labour market status, April 2026

People in employment

The unemployed

Definitions and explanations

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