.svg){kind=logo}
In Sweden, 76 percent of companies have difficulty finding people with the right skills, almost double the number from ten years ago. The greatest shortage is in IT skills, with one in four employers having difficulty recruiting IT skills. All industries have a skills shortage of at least 60 percent, however, greatest skills shortage is found in the health, medical care and life science industries (84%), energy and community services and the IT industry (83%).
Rapid changes in the labor market lead to skills shortages
Our Talent Shortage survey is based on interviews with more than 40,000 employers in 42 countries, of which 788 were in Sweden. Three out of four Swedish employers, 76 percent, say they find it difficult to find people with the right skills for their business.
In the survey, employers were asked what measures they are implementing to counter the skills shortage. The most common in Sweden is to offer employees flexible working hours and higher wages.
– The skills shortage in the Swedish labor market is high, cross-industry and persistent. To counteract the problem, employers should review their methods. When it is difficult to recruit the skills needed, companies can work on multiple fronts, including developing the skills of existing employees, says ManpowerGroup CEO, Per Johansson.
Top list of skills shortages in Sweden 2025:
IT skills top the list of skills shortages in Sweden – one in four employers, 26 percent, state that they have difficulty recruiting IT skills.
The skills shortage distributed across different industries:
The greatest skills shortage is found in the health, medical care and life science industries (84%), energy and community services and the IT industry (83%), but all industries have a skills shortage of at least 60 percent.
The skills shortage has also taken hold outside Sweden
Globally, the skills shortage is at 74 percent, a level that has remained essentially constant over the past four years. Historically, this is a record high – six years ago the global skills shortage was 54 percent, and ten years ago it was 36 percent. Germany is the country worst affected – 86 percent of companies there say they are struggling to recruit the right skills.
The countries with the biggest skills shortages in 2025:
• Germany, 86%
• Israel, 85%
• Portugal, 84%