Three out of four Swedish companies suffer from a skills shortage

21 September 2026

Rapid changes in the labor market are leading to a skills shortage. In Sweden, 76% of companies have difficulty finding people with the right skills, which is almost double the number from ten years ago. This is shown by ManpowerGroup’s 2025 skills shortage survey, Talent Shortage, which is based on interviews with more than 40,000 employers in 42 countries. The greatest shortage is in IT skills, with one in four employers having difficulty recruiting IT skills.

To attract talent, Swedish employers primarily use flexible working hours and higher salaries. Globally, however, it is most common to offer skills development and retraining.

ManpowerGroup CEO Per Johansson says the following in a comment:

– 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 several fronts, including developing the skills of existing employees.

Top list of skills shortages in Sweden 2025:

  1. IT & Data, 26 %
  2. Engineers, 17 %
  3. Operations & logistics, 17 %
  4. Sales & Marketing, 16 %
  5. HR, 14 %

The skills shortage distributed across different industries:

The largest skills shortages are in the health, medical care and life science industries (84%), energy and community services and the IT industry (83%). However, all industries have a skills shortage of at least 60%.

The global skills shortage

Globally, the skills shortage is 74%. This figure has remained essentially constant over the past four years. Germany is the country worst affected, with 86% of companies reporting difficulty finding the right skills.

The countries with the biggest skills shortages in 2025:

  • Germany, 86%
  • Israel, 85%
  • Portugal, 84%

Source: Three out of four Swedish companies still suffer from a skills shortage