Sweden’s unemployment rate declined to 8.8% in February 2026, down from 9.4% in the same month of the previous year. The total number of unemployed persons fell by 25,800 compared with February 2024, to 507,000 individuals. This figure comprised 233,000 women and 274,000 men, corresponding to unemployment rates of 8.5% and 9.1%, respectively.
Among young people aged 15–24, 169,000 were unemployed, giving a youth unemployment rate of 24.5%. Of these, 128,000 were full-time students. At the same time, the number of employed persons aged 15–74 increased by 92,000 to 5.25 million, including 2.501 million women and 2.749 million men.
The number of long-term unemployed—defined as those without work for at least 27 weeks—stood at 180,000, divided equally between 90,000 women and 90,000 men. The average total number of hours worked per week amounted to 170.6 million.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the overall unemployment rate was 8.5%, while the youth unemployment rate was 23.2%.
