Since 1 January, the Swedish LFS is in compliance with the new EU framework regulation on social statistics (Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council). This framework regulation has involved changes in the definition of employment, the sampling procedure, and the structure of the questionnaire. These changes have caused breaks in the time series and therefore, this item of statistical news does not include any comparisons with previous years. Comparisons with previous months in 2021 are possible for seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. However, comparisons with previous years are not advised. Throughout 2021, parallel measurements will be used to make it possible to link data backwards in time and make the series comparable with previous years.

The number of employed persons has been affected, partly due to the change in the definition; 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 improves the precision in the estimates, although it also affects the levels of the number of employed persons. The change in the definition and the new weighting procedure led to a total estimated number of employed persons in October that is 49 000 fewer than according to the previous method.

Besides the number of employed persons, other estimates have also been affected by a change in definition, target population, and survey design. The new auxillary information has also affected the other estimates.

More information on the alignment to the framework regulation is available on the LFS product page under “Information on the introduction of the new 2021 framework regulation in the LFS” (scb.se).

The labour force

In October 2021, there were 5 478 000 people aged 15–74 years in the labour force, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 586 000 women and 2 893 000 men in the labour force. The relative labour force participation rate was 73.1 percent. This rate was 70.1 percent for women and 76.0 percent for men.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 5 571 000 people in the labour force and the labour force participation rate was 74.2 percent. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the labour force participation rate.

Employment

In October 2021, there were 5 060 000 employed people aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. There were 2 370 000 employed women and 2 690 000 employed men. The employment rate was 67.5 percent. This rate was 64.3 percent for women and 70.7 percent for men.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 5 086 000 employed people and the employment rate was 67.8 percent. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in both the number of employed people and the employment rate.

Employees

In October 2021, there were 4 559 000 employees according to non-seasonally adjusted data. Among employees, there were 2 222 000 women and 2 337 000 men. There were 3 874 000 permanent employees and 685 000 temporary employees.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, there were 4 577 000 employees. There were 3 877 000 permanent employees and 700 000 temporary employees. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed an increase in the number of permanent employees and a decrease in the number of temporary employees.

Hours worked

In October 2021, the average number of hours worked was 173.9 million per week, not seasonally adjusted.

Seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed that the total average number of hours worked per week was 153.6 million, an increase compared with previous months in 2021.

Unemployment

In October 2021, there were 418 000 unemployed persons aged 15–74 years, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent, not seasonally adjusted. There were 216 000 unemployed women and 203 000 unemployed men, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent for women and 7.0 percent for men. Among those who were unemployed, 155 000 had been unemployed for more than six months.

In October, there were 484 000 unemployed persons according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent. Compared with previous months in 2021, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data showed a decrease in the number and in the proportion of unemployed people.

Additional questions on the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market

In view of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, questions about the impact of COVID-19 have been added to the LFS. The answers to these questions show that 30 000 employed people aged 15–74 years were absent during the whole reference week in October related to COVID-19. This means that among people who were absent during the entire reference week, 8.4 percent were absent due to COVID-19.

Among employees aged 15–74 years who were absent during the entire reference week, 8.8 percent, which corresponds to 29 000 people, stated that their absence was related to COVID-19. Furthermore, 14.1 percent of employees who were absent during part of the week, 80 000 people, stated that their absence was related to COVID-19. Among self-employed persons and assisting family members aged 15–74 years, 30.1 percent felt that they had less work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while 21.3 percent felt that they had more work.

2021-12-16, 09:30.