Swedish unemployment continues to rise

At the end of June, a total of 336,000 people were registered as unemployed with Sweden's Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen).

The unemployment rate was 6.9 percent, a rise of 0.3 percentage points since June 2024, according to statistics from the agency, which predicts in its newest forecast that unemployment will stop rising this year and start to fall in 2026.

"It's very uncertain," Lars Lindvall, head of the Public Employment Agency's department for analysis, told the TT newswire. "Trade policy and the security situation also affect the labour market."

A total of 177,000 women were registered as unemployed at the end of June, an increase of 10,000 month-on-month. The number of unemployed men was higher, at 189,000, but the increase was slightly smaller at 9,000.

According to Lindvall, the construction industry and private service industry have been the hardest hit during the recent period of low growth.

There is one group of people where unemployment only rose slightly ‒ young people between the ages of 18 and 24. In June, 7.8 percent of people in this group were registered as unemployed, compared to 7.7 percent in the same month last year. Lindvall said that it's difficult to say why that is.

"The good thing is that it's at the same level," he said.