Supplementary information about the LFS October is included at the end of this statistical news release.

In October 2019, there were 5 138 000 employed persons aged 15─74, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed men was 2 696 000. The number of employed women was 2 443 000. The employment rate was 68.3 percent. Among men, the employment rate was 70.4 percent and among women, the employment rate was 66.1 percent.

Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data indicates an increase in both the number of employed persons and the employment rate, compared with recent months. In October 2019, there were 5 142 000 employed persons, which corresponds to an employment rate of 68.4 percent.

There were 4 604 000 employees aged 15─74 in October 2019, not seasonally adjusted. Among men, the number of employees was 2 304 000 and among women it was 2 300 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 3 876 000 in the same period. Among men, the number of permanent employees was 1 982 000 and among women it was 1 894 000.

There were 728 000 temporary employees. Among men, there were 322 000 temporary employees and among women the number of temporary employees was 405 000. Compared with nearby months, smoothed and seasonally adjusted data shows an increase in the number of permanent employees and a decrease in the number of temporary employees.

On average, the number of hours worked in October 2019 amounted to 175.1 million per week, not seasonally adjusted. Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data showed an increase in the number of hours worked per week compared with recent months. On average, the number of hours worked amounted to 154.1 million per week in October 2019.

In October 2019, there were 330 000 unemployed persons aged 15─74, not seasonally adjusted. This corresponds to an unemployment rate of 6.0 percent. There were 155 000 unemployed women and 174 000 unemployed men. The unemployment rate was 6.0 percent among women and 6.1 percent among men.

Among young persons aged 15─24 there were 102 000 unemployed persons, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 17.4 percent. Among unemployed young people, 66 000 persons were full-time students.

Among persons aged 15–74, smoothed and seasonally adjusted data shows minor changes in both the number of unemployed persons and in the unemployment rate, compared with nearby months. There were 376 000 unemployed persons in October 2019, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent.

Among young persons aged 15─24, smoothed and seasonally adjusted data shows minor changes in both the number of unemployed persons and in the unemployment rate. There were 125 000 unemployed young persons, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 19.8 percent.

Supplementary information on the Labour Force Surveys (LFS)

In connection with the October LFS publication, Statistics Sweden is publishing revised statistics on the Labour Force Surveys (LFS) for the period July 2018 to September 2019, in which only half of the sample is used, due to an earlier identification of quality deficiencies. The October LFS statistics and revisions are based on data collection carried out by Statistics Sweden’s Data Collection Department in order to provide the most reliable description possible of the labour market. However, as the statistics are now based on half of the sample, this increases the uncertainty, particularly at a more disaggregated level.

The uncertainty figures for the level estimations are now larger, which subsequently increases the interval describing, with a 95 percent probability, for example, the real number of unemployed persons.

Comparisons within one year are also affected as a result. Larger uncertainty figures require larger differences than before between the periods for a statistically significant change to occur.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data are also affected, but not to the same extent as level and change estimations, since the series are based on estimations from several points in time.

Correlation tables with the new revised time series and the old time series are available under "Tables and figures".

2019-12-12 at 9:30.