The new EU regulation has entailed changes in the definition of employment, the sampling procedure, and the structure of the questionnaire. These changes have led to breaks in the time series and therefore, this item of statistical news does not include any comparisons with the previous year. As from the publication concerning the second quarter, comparison with the previous quarter will be possible for seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. During 2021, parallel measurements will be used, making it possible to link data backwards in time and make the series comparable with previous years.

The number of employed persons decreased, partly due to the change in the definition, in which people who are completely absent from work for three months or more for certain reasons are no longer classified as being employed. Furthermore, new and updated information is used in the weighting procedures, which leads to bettere precision of the estimates, although it also affects the level of the number of persons who are employed. These changes led to 84 000 fewer in the total estimated number of employed persons in the first quarter than according to the previous method.

Besides the employed persons, the other estimates may also have been affected by change in definitions, target population and the survey design. The new auxillary information may also have affected the other estimates.

The labour force

There were 5 449 000 people aged 15–74 years in the labour force in the first quarter of 2021, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 559 000 women and 2 890 000 men in the labour force. The relative labour force participation rate was 72.5 percent. For women it was 69.3 percent, and for men it was 75.6 percent. There were 562 000 young people aged 15–24 years in the labour force and the relative labour force participation rate among young people was 48.9 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that there were 5 483 000 people in the labour force, which corresponds to 73.0 percent of the population.

Employment

In the first quarter of 2021, there were 4 921 000 people aged 15–74 years in employment, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 308 000 women and 2 614 000 men in employment. The employment rate was 65.5 percent. The employment rate was 62.5 percent for women and 68.4 percent for men. There were 410 000 young people aged 15–24 years , among whom the employment rate was 35.7 percent.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that there were
4 988 000 employed persons and the employment rate was 66.4 percent.

Employees

In the first quarter of 2021, there were 4 432 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. Among employees, 2 181 000 were women, and 2 251 000 were men. There were 3 822 000 permanent employees, of whom 1 832 000 were women and 1 990 000 were men. The number of temporary employees was 610 000. Among temporary employees, 350 000 were women and 260 000 were men.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data there were 4 501 000 employees. There were 3 832 000 permanent employees and 669 000 temporary employees.

Hours worked

The total number of hours worked averaged 156.4 million per week, according to non-seasonally adjusted data for the first quarter of 2021.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the total number of hours worked averaged 150.0 million hours per week.

The majority of employed persons have an agreed working time of 35 hours or more per week, that is, full-time work. In the first quarter of 2021, 3 837 000 people worked full time, of whom 1 642 000 were women and 2 195 000 were men. In total, 300 000 people worked short part-time (1–19 hours) and 654 000 people worked long part-time (20–34 hours).

The average actual weekly hours worked among employed persons aged 15-74 years was 31.8 hours in the first quarter of 2021. The average weekly hours worked was 29.7 hours among women and 33.7 hours among men.

At work and absence

There were 4 444 000 people aged 15–74 years employed and working in the first quarter of 2021, not seasonally adjusted.

The LFS estimates the number of people who were absent during the whole week or parts of the week from their principal occupation, by main reason for absence. There were 1 467 000 people absent during the whole week or parts of the week in the first quarter of 2021, not seasonally adjusted. There were 484 000 people absent for the whole week, not seasonally adjusted. Among these people, 121 000 were absent due to holidays and 143 000 were absent due to illness. There were 11 000 people absent for the whole week due to lack of work.

It is common for people who are absent due to lack of work or lay-offs to be absent for only part of the week. There were 51 000 people absent for the whole week or part of the week due to lay-offs. The corresponding figure for people who stated lack of work as their main reason for absence was 28 000.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that 4 251 000 people were at work.

Underemployment

Among employed persons aged 15–74 years, 334 000 were underemployed in the first quarter of 2021. Among underemployed persons, 165 000 were women and 168 000 were men. Underemployed persons accounted for 6.8 percent of employed persons.

Unemployment

In the first quarter of 2021, there were 528 000 unemployed persons aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. There were 251 000 unemployed women and 277 000 unemployed men. The unemployment rate was 9.8 percent for women, and 9.6 percent for men.

Among people aged 15–74 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that there were 495 000 unemployed persons, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 9.0 percent.

There were 164 000 long-term unemployed persons (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) aged 15–74 years in the first quarter of 2021. Among long-term unemployed persons, 74 000 were women and 90 000 were men.

There were 152 000 unemployed young people aged 15–24 years, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to a youth unemployment rate of 27.1 percent. Among unemployed youth, 103 000 were full-time students.

Among young people aged 15–24 years, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that there were 142 000 unemployed persons in the first quarter of 2021, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 24.0 percent.

Not in the labour force

The group ‘not in the labour force’ includes people who are classified as neither employed nor unemployed. In the first quarter of 2021, there were 2 067 000 people aged 15–74 years not in the labour force, of whom 1 135 000 were women and 931 000 were men. Among people not in the labour force, 907 000 were pensioners, while 715 000 were full-time students. There were 196 000 people who reported that they were on long-term sick leave.

Latent job seekers

There were 285 000 latent job seekers aged 15–74 years in the first quarter of 2021, of whom 147 000 were women and 138 000 were men. There were 126 000 latent job seekers among young people aged 15–24 years.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed persons, underemployed persons and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In the first quarter of 2021, among people in the aged 15–74 years, the unused labour supply averaged 26.4 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 660 000 full-time employments with a 40-hour working week.

Labour market for people aged 20-64 years

The relative labour force participation rate among people aged 20–64 years was 86.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, not seasonally adjusted. For women, the relative labour force participation rate was 83.2 percent and for men it was 89.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the labour force participation rate was 86.8 percent.

In the first quarter of 2021, the proportion of employed people aged 20–64 years was 78.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted. For women, this figure was 75.8 percent, and for men it was 81.5 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the employment rate was 79.6 percent.

According to non-seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate in the age group 20–64 years was 8.9 percent. The unemployment rate was 8.9 percent for woment and 9.0 percent for men. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the unemployment rate was 8.3 percent.

Swedish born and foreign born persons aged 20–64 years

In the first quarter of 2021, the relative labour force participation rate among Swedish born persons aged 20–64 years was 87.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women, the corresponding figure was 85.7 percent and among Swedish born men it was 89.7 percent. Among foreign born persons aged 20–64 years, the relative labour force participation rate was 82.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021. The labour force participation rate was 76.3 percent among foreign born women and 88.7 percent among foreign born men. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the labour force participation rate was 88.2 percent among Swedish born persons and 82.7 percent among foreign born persons.

In the first quarter of 2021, the proportion of employed persons among Swedish born persons aged 20–64 years was 83.4 percent, not seasonally adjusted. Among Swedish born women the employment rate was 81.7 percent, and among Swedish born men the employment rate was 85.0 percent. Among foreign born persons the employment rate was 65.1 percent. Among foreign born women the corresponding figure was 58.9 percent, while among foreign born men it was 71.1 percent. Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows that the employment rate was 84.2 percent among Swedish born persons. The employment rate among foreign born persons was 66.2 percent.

The relative unemployment rate among Swedish born persons aged 20–64 years was 5.0 percent in the first quarter of 2021. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent among Swedish born women, and of 5.3 percent among Swedish born men. The unemployment rate among foreign born persons was 21.2 percent. Among foreign born women, the unemployment rate was 22.8 percent, and among foreign born men the corresponding figure was 19.9 percent. According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the unemployment rate for Swedish born persons was 4.6 percent. The unemployment rate for foreign born persons was 20.0 percent.

2021-08-17, at 09:30.