Sweden’s unemployment rate rose to 8.5% in August 2026 from 7.8% in July, with Statistics Sweden reporting 505,000 unemployed people. Existing figures put the August rate at 8.4% a year earlier and the jobless total at 505.2 thousand, indicating a difference between the latest rounded release and previously reported figures. Employment reached 5.4 million, up 103,000 from August 2025, compared with an earlier reported increase of 102.6 thousand. Unemployment had stood at 9.4% in May and 9.9% in June. Earlier details showed unemployment rates of 8.9% for women and 8.2% for men, youth unemployment of 18.4%, and long-term unemployment of 168 thousand. At its latest monetary policy meeting, Sweden kept the policy rate unchanged, citing low measured inflation and high unemployment while warning that stronger-than-forecast growth and inflation posed a risk of underlying inflation becoming too high after supply shocks.