The change between April 2023 and April 2024 for the labour force and employed women may be overestimated to some extent. In April 2023, the labour force and employment of women were at a relatively low level.

– The situation in the labour market remains subdued and there were no major changes in April, says Louise Stener, statistician at the Labour Force Surveys at Statistics Sweden.

Labour force

In April 2024, the number of people in the labour force aged 15–74 amounted to 5 740 000, not seasonally adjusted. This is an increase of 90 000 people compared to the corresponding month last year. The number of women in the labour force was 2 739 000, an increase of 87 000 people, and the number of men was 3 001 000. The labour force participation rate increased by 1.1 percentage points to 75.6 percent. The labour force participation rate for women was 73.4 percent, an increase of 2.2 percentage points, and for men it was 77.8 percent.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of people in the labour force amounted to 5 738 000. This corresponds to a labour force participation rate of 75.6 percent, an increase compared to recent months.

Employment

There were 5 227 000 employed people aged 15–74 in April 2024, not seasonally adjusted. The number of employed women was 2 501 000 and the number of employed men amounted to 2 727 000. The employment rate was 68.9 percent. The employment rate among women amounted to 67.0 percent and for men it was 70.6 percent.

According to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data, the number of employed persons aged 15–74 amounted to 5 256 000, which corresponds to an employment rate of 69.2 percent.

Employees

In April 2024, there were 4 748 000 employees, according to not seasonally adjusted data. The number of employees among women was 2 348 000 and among men it was 2 400 000. The number of permanent employees amounted to 4 116 000, an increase of 88 000. The number of permanent employed women amounted to 2 026 000, an increase of 99 000 people, and the number of permanent employed men was 2 089 000. The number of temporary employees was 632 000. The number of temporary employed women was 322 000 a decrease of 50 000 people, and the number of temporary employed men amounted to 311 000.

For seasonally adjusted and smoothed data the number of employees amounted to 4 750 000, of which the number of permanent employees was 4 097 000 and the number of temporary employees was 653 000. Compared to recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of permanent employees and a decrease in the number of temporary employees.

Hours worked

The average number of total hours worked in April 2024 amounted to 165.4 million per week, according to not seasonally adjusted data.

Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in the number of hours worked. The average number of hours worked was 158.6 million per week.

Unemployment

In April 2024, the number of unemployed people aged 15–74 years amounted to 513 000, not seasonally adjusted, which is an increase of 87 000 people compared to the corresponding month the previous year. The unemployment rate amounted to 8.9 percent, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. The number of unemployed women amounted to 238 000 and the number of unemployed men was 275 000, an increase of 51 000 people. The unemployment rate for women amounted to 8.7 percent, and for men it was 9.2 percent, an increase of 1.7 percentage points. The number of long-term unemployed, unemployed for at least 27 weeks, was 155 000. The number of long-term unemployed women were 65 000, and the number of men were 90 000.

The number of unemployed young people aged 15–24 amounted to 188 000, an increase of 44 000 people. The youth unemployment rate was 26.8 percent. Among unemployed young people, 131 000 were full-time students.

Compared with recent months, the number of unemployed among people aged 15-74 increased and amounted to 481 000, according to seasonally adjusted and smoothed data. The unemployment rate also increased and amounted to 8.4 percent. Among young people aged 15–24 the number of unemployed amounted to 167 000 and the unemployment rate was 24.2 percent. Compared with recent months, seasonally adjusted and smoothed data shows an increase in both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate among young people.

Unused labour supply

Unemployed people, underemployed people and latent job seekers together constitute the unused labour supply. In April 2024, the unused labour supply averaged 23.0 million hours per week. This is an increase of 2.3 million hours compared to the corresponding month the previous year. The unused labour supply corresponds to 575 000 full-time employments with 40-hour work weeks.