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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 2023, it stood at 7.7 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.

The COVID-19 pandemic

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) started spreading in Sweden in February 2020, the country's health authorities chose a milder way than most other European countries, allowing most stores, including cafés and restaurants to remain open. Ultimately, the government's handling of the pandemic was criticized as the country registered an unusually high number of deaths during the first weeks of the pandemic. Moreover, the country's economy was hit hard, with economic decline and layoffs.