The unemployment rate in Sweden decreased steadily from 2010 after the financial crisis the previous years. However, the employment rate increased since 2018, reaching nearly nine percent in 2021 after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. In 2022, it sunk to 7.5 percent. The unemployment rate among women was slightly higher than among men in 2022.
Unemployment benefits
As unemployed in Sweden, there is a possibility to receive unemployment benefits (A-kassa). To receive these benefits, the unemployed person needs to be registered at the Swedish Public Employment Service, needs to be ready to take on a job at any time, and needs to have had a job for at least six months during the last year. In 2022, nearly 228,000 individuals in Sweden received these benefits.
Unemployment funds
The unemployment benefit system in Sweden is administrated by 27 different insurance funds, based on the occupation of the employed or unemployed. Unionens was the unemployment insurance that paid out unemployment benefits to the most recipients in 2020, amounting to around 66.300.
Unemployment rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022
Characteristic
Unemployment rate
2022
7.5%
2021
8.8%
2020
8.3%
2019
6.8%
2018
6.3%
2017
6.7%
2016
6.9%
2015
7.4%
2014
7.9%
2013
8%
2012
8%
2011
7.8%
2010
8.6%
2009
8.3%
2008
6.2%
2007
6.1%
2006
7.1%
2005
7.8%
2004
7.4%
2003
6.6%
2002
6%
2001
5.8%
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Statistics Sweden. (January 27, 2023). Unemployment rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/527288/sweden-unemployment-rate/
Statistics Sweden. "Unemployment rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022." Chart. January 27, 2023. Statista. Accessed July 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/527288/sweden-unemployment-rate/
Statistics Sweden. (2023). Unemployment rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: July 22, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/527288/sweden-unemployment-rate/
Statistics Sweden. "Unemployment Rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022." Statista, Statista Inc., 27 Jan 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/527288/sweden-unemployment-rate/
Statistics Sweden, Unemployment rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/527288/sweden-unemployment-rate/ (last visited July 22, 2024)
Unemployment rate in Sweden from 2001 to 2022 [Graph], Statistics Sweden, January 27, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/527288/sweden-unemployment-rate/