Unemployment in Sweden has fallen during the spring and is now at its lowest level since autumn 2023. This is shown by new statistical data from the Public Employment Service.
At the end of May, about 339,000 people were registered as job seekers without employment at the Public Employment Service, corresponding to 6.4 percent of the Swedish labor force.
During 2026, month-to-month changes have been limited, indicating that the improvement is happening at a slow pace. For comparison, unemployment stood at 6.5 percent in April this year, while the corresponding figure for May last year was 6.8 percent.
The level is the lowest recorded since the end of 2023, according to the agency’s latest monthly report. Despite the positive development, seasonally adjusted figures show that the labor market is still characterized by a weak recovery.
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The number of people affected by layoff notices also decreased markedly. About 3,500 layoff notices were registered in May, compared to 10,600 in the same month of 2025. Among young people aged 18 to 24, unemployment was 6.4 percent in May. This means an improvement compared to the previous year, when the share of unemployed in the same age group was 6.9 percent.
The numbers point to a gradual improvement in the job market after a period of higher unemployment. This trend is also visible in the number of redundancies, with fewer employees losing their jobs.