Population by Labour market status, March 2026

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2026-05-28 8.00

People in employment aged 15 to 74 numbered 5 232 000 in March 2026. The number of employed increased by 24 000 people compared with March 2025. In the 20 to 65 age range, 290 000 people were unemployed. This equals a share of 5.6 percent expressed as a percentage of the labour force and a decrease of 0.3 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 24 000 people in March 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

	Women born in Sweden	Men born in Sweden	Foreign born women	Foreign born men	Total
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

Source

Statistics Sweden

In the 20 to 65 age range the employment rate – the number of employed people in relation to the population - was 78.7 percent among women and 80.2 percent among men. Compared with March 2025 the employment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points for men and 0.1 for women.

The unemployed

The number of unemployed people aged 20 to 65 in March was 290 000, which is a decrease of 11 000 compared to the same period the previous year.

The relative unemployment rate - the proportion of unemployed people in relation to the labour force - was 5.6 percent for women and 5.7 percent for men. This equals a decreased unemployment rate among men of 0.3 percentage point and among women of 0.1 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 11.9 percent and among people born in Sweden 3.5 percent.

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

	Totalt	Men born in Sweden	Women born in Sweden	Foreign born men	Foreign born women
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

Source

Statistics Sweden

Employed, 15 to 74 years

	March 2026	February 2026	March 2025	Change since March 2025 (%)
Employed	5 232 000	5 222 000	5 208 000	0.5
Women	2 536 000	2 531 000	2 522 000	0.6
Born in Sweden	1 960 000	1 957 000	1 957 000	0.2
Foreign born	576 000	574 000	565 000	2.0
Men	2 696 000	2 691 000	2 686 000	0.4
Born in Sweden	2 064 000	2 060 000	2 063 000	0.0
Foreign born	631 000	630 000	622 000	1.5

Source

Statistics Sweden

People in the labour force, 20 to 65 years

	March 2026	February 2026	March 2025	Change since March 2025
Employed	4 852 000	4 850 000	4 833 000	0.4
Women	2 357 000	2 356 000	2 345 000	0.5
Men	2 495 000	2 494 000	2 488 000	0.3
Employment rate (%)	79.5	79.5	79.3	0.2
Women	78.7	78.7	78.6	0.1
Born in Sweden	83.3	83.4	83.3	0.0
Foreign born	66.7	66.6	66.2	0.5
Men	80.2	80.2	80.0	0.2
Born in Sweden	83.3	83.3	83.3	0.0
Foreign born	71.8	71.7	71.1	0.7
Unemployment	290 000	292 000	301 000	-3.6
Women	139 000	140 000	142 000	-2.2
Born in Sweden	55 000	56 000	55 000	0.2
Foreign born	84 000	84 000	87 000	-3.7
Men	151 000	152 000	159 000	-4.8
Born in Sweden	79 000	80 000	80 000	-0.6
Foreign born	72 000	72 000	79 000	-9.0
Relative unemployment rate (%)	5.6	5.7	5.9	-0.3
Women	5.6	5.6	5.7	-0.1
Born in Sweden	2.9	3.0	2.9	0.0
Foreign born	13.3	13.3	13.9	-0.6
Men	5.7	5.8	6.0	-0.3
Born in Sweden	4.0	4.1	4.0	0.0
Foreign born	10.7	10.7	11.7	-1.0

Source

Statistics Sweden

People not in the labour force, 20 to 65 years

	March 2026	February 2026	March 2025	Change since March 2025 (%)
Students	201 000	191 000	203 000	-0.8
Women	114 000	108 000	115 000	-0.8
Men	87 000	83 000	88 000	-0.8
Retirees	66 000	68 000	68 000	-3.4
Women	34 000	35 000	35 000	-4.1
Men	32 000	33 000	33 000	-2.6
Sick	220 000	221 000	224 000	-1.6
Women	121 000	122 000	123 000	-2.0
Men	99 000	99 000	100 000	-1.2
Others	475 000	481 000	465 000	2.1
Women	229 000	232 000	223 000	2.4
Men	246 000	249 000	242 000	1.9

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, March 2026

People in employment

The unemployed

Definitions and explanations

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