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FIGURE 10. Gainfully occupied by sectors of the economy (Percent)
1940 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970
Agriculture 28.9 20.3 17.4 13.9 11.2 7.4
Mining, manufacturing, and construction 36.0 40.8 40.3 40.9 40.7 39.7
Trade, transportation, and communications 19.9 24.1 26.2 27.2 25.0 21.5
General administration and professions 8.8 11.1 12.7 15.3 22.1 29.9
Domestic services 5.3 2.9 2.7 2.1 1.0 1.5
Unspecified 1.1 0.3 0.7 0.6
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number in thousands 3,000 3,105 3,398 3,559 3,690 3,821


same, at least through the 1970's, because of continued immigration and growth of female employment.

Since 1940 there has been a marked increase in the proportion of the labor force moving from agriculture to other occupations. Figure 10 shows the changes in the distribution of the force that have taken place since 1940 among the various sectors of the economy. There has also been a significant shift in the number of women in the labor force; in 1950 working women numbered 819,000, or 26.4%, of the total, compared with 966,000, or 29.8%, in 1960 and 1.1 million, or 33.9%, in 1965. Between 1950 and 1965 the number of married women in the labor force more than doubled, whereas the absolute number of male and other female workers declined. There has also been a marked relative increase in the number of married women seeking employment; this group made up 17.0% of the labor force in 1965, compared with 13.1% in 1980 and 7.6% in 1950.

The following tabulation shows the percent of women aged 16 to 74 in the labor force in selected years:

Married Women Unmarried Women
1965 44.0 57.4
1967 46.2 54.5
1969 49.4 55.2
1970 51.5 55.1
1971 (August) 52.5 58.0

Figure 11 shows the age-sex distribution of the labor force in 1965 and 1950, as established by the respective censuses.

The number of aliens in the labor force has exceeded 100,000 almost every year since 1950. In 1970 there were 209,289 foreign workers in Sweden, or about 5.5% of the nation's labor force. Roughly 60% of the total number of foreign workers come from the Nordic countries, which constitute a common labor market. Thus, a citizen of one of these countries can hold employment and take up residence in any one of the other Nordic countries without any employment or residence visa. Furthermore, he can cross the borders without holding a passport, belong to the unemployment benefit society of his profession, and receive government assistance, even retaining, should he become unemployed. Finns make up the largest number of foreign workers in Sweden, numbering about 110,000 in 1972. There has been a considerable increase in Yugoslavs in the last 4 years. There are a substantial number of other north Europeans, and east and south Europeans as well, as may be seen in the following tabulation:

1952 1960 1965 1970
Finnish 33,779 47,493 70,445 102,365
Danish 21,827 19,430 19,157 18,710
German (East and West) 18,423 14,248 16,723 14,520
Yugoslavian 0 780 7,475 18,462
Norwegian 13,350 10,212 12,861 13,627
Greek 0 178 4,066 7,056
Italian 0 3,648 5,234 4,727
Austrians 0 0 3,104 3,322
Hungarians 0 0 4,393 2,870
Others 31,746 18,136 17,837 23,610
Total 119,125 114,123 161,295 209,289


2. Employment and unemployment

Full employment has been one of the principal objectives of national policy since the mid-1930's. The capacity of organized labor and management for effective cooperation was enhanced by the general prosperity of the period—one of consistently rapid industrial growth. Furthermore, the very slow rate of natural population increase was inadequate to meet the manpower needs, and foreign labor had to be imported, particularly after 1960. Sweden maintained almost full employment throughout the sixties, and its


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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090021-3