The unemployment rate in Sweden was 6.4%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points in November 2022

–Employment is still increasing, and so is the number of hours worked. Unemployment is decreasing but at a slower pace than before, says Lena Johansson, statistician at the Labor Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In November 2022, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 was 5 618 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 95 000 compared to November 2021. The number of women in the labour force was 2 655 000 and the number of men was 2 963 000. The relative labour force participation rate was 74.2 percent. Among women it was 71.4 percent and among men it was 76.9 percent.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 644 000, corresponding to a labour force participation rate of 74.7 percent. Compared with nearby months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number of people in the labour force and in the labour force participation rate.

Employment

In November 2022, there were 5 258 000 employed people aged 15–74, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 149 000 compared to November 2021. The number of employed women increased with 77 000 to 2 484 000 and the number of employed men increased with 72 000 to 2 774 000. The employment rate increased by 1.6 percentage points to 69.5 percent. Among women the employment rate was 66.8 percent, an increase of 1.7 percentage points. The employment rate for men was 72.0 percent.

Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data shows an increase in both the number and the share of employed people compared with recent months. There were 5 237 000 employed people, and the employment rate was 69.3 percent.

Employees

In November 2022, there was an increase of 189 000 to 4 750 000 employees, not seasonally adjusted. Among women there were 2 341 000 employees and among men the number of employees amounted to 2 409 000, an increase of 80 000 women and 108 000 men respectively compared to November 2021. There were 4 008 000 permanent employees. Among women there were 1 946 000 permanent employees and among men there were 2 062 000. The number of temporary employees amounted to 743 000, an increase of 113 000. Among women the number of temporary employees was 395 000 and among men the number of temporary employees was 347 000, an increase of 81 000.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employees was 4 719 000. The corresponding figure for permanent employees was 3 973 000 and for temporary employees 746 000. Compared with nearby months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number of employees and permanent employees.

Hours worked

The average number of hours worked in November 2022 amounted to 173.4 million per week, not seasonally adjusted. In calendar-adjusted figures, this corresponds to an increase of 3.7 percent compared with November 2021.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data there was an increase in the average number of hours worked compared to nearby months. The number of hours amounted to 158.0 million per week.

Unemployment

In November 2022, there were 360 000 unemployed people aged 15–74 years, not seasonally adjusted. This is a decrease of 54 000 people compared to November 2021. The corresponding unemployment rate amounted to 6.4 percent; a decrease of 1.1 percentage points. The number of unemployed women was 171 000 and the number of unemployed men was 189 000. The unemployment rate was 6.4 percent for both women and men. The number of long-term unemployed (unemployed for at least 27 weeks) was 145 000, of which 61 000 women and 84 000 men. There were 111 000 unemployed young people aged 15–24, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 17.0 percent. Among unemployed young people, 66 000 persons were full-time students.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data there were 407 000 unemployed people, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 7.2 percent, among people aged 15–74 years. Compared with nearby months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows a decrease in both number and the rate of unemployment people aged 15–74 years. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 145 000, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 21.2 percent.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together comprise the unused labour supply. In November 2022, the unused labour supply averaged 19.1 million hours per week. The unused labour supply corresponds to 478 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.