Sweden’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.7% in March 2026 from 8.5% in the same month a year earlier.
This also marked the highest unemployment rate since May last year, as the total number of unemployed people increased by 79,000 compared to March 2025, reaching 565,000, comprising 268,000 women and 296,000 men, and corresponding to unemployment rates of 9.6% and 9.9%, respectively.
Among young people aged 15-24, 211,000 were unemployed, corresponding to a youth unemployment rate of 30.1%, of whom 163,000 were full-time students.
The number of long-term unemployed, defined as those jobless for at least 27 weeks, reached 207,000, with 95,000 women and 113,000 men.
Meanwhile, employment among people aged 15-74 fell by 10,000 to 5.23 million, including 2.521 million women and 2.709 million men.
The average total number of hours worked per week was 172.3 million.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate was 8.7%, while youth unemployment stood at 24.2%.