Sweden
Min. wage
(x12 payments)
No statutory (CBA-set)
About the minimum wage
Employer tax
31.42%
Understand employer tax
Annual leave
25 days
Learn about annual leave
Notice period
1-6 months (by tenure)
Termination and notice info
Updated
Sep 2026
The default and most common form of employment in Sweden is the indefinite (permanent) contract, tillsvidareanställning. Under the Employment Protection Act (LAS), employment is presumed indefinite unless a fixed term is explicitly and validly agreed. Termination of an indefinite contract by the employer requires objective grounds (saklig grund) — either redundancy (arbetsbrist) or personal grounds (personliga skäl) — and adherence to statutory notice periods and, where applicable, seniority (turordning) rules.
Fixed-term contracts (allmän visstidsanställning) are permitted for any reason without needing to state objective grounds. However, if an employee has been employed on one or more fixed-term contracts for a total of more than 12 months within a 5-year period, the contract automatically converts to an indefinite (permanent) contract. Fixed-term contracts generally end automatically on the agreed end date without requiring notice, unless otherwise agreed or required by CBA.
The Working Hours Act (Arbetstidslagen) sets ordinary working time at a maximum of 40 hours per week, typically 8 hours/day. Overtime is capped at roughly 48 hours over any 4-week period (or 50 hours in a calendar month), with a general annual overtime limit of 200 hours (of which 150 hours is 'ordinary' overtime that can be used without special justification). Many terms, including reduced hours and overtime premiums, are commonly set or modified by sector collective bargaining agreements.
A probationary employment (provanställning) may last a maximum of 6 months under LAS. During this period, either party may terminate the employment without needing to show objective grounds, subject to a short notice period (commonly around 2 weeks, or as set by contract/CBA). If neither party ends the employment by the end of the probation period, it automatically converts into an indefinite contract.
Sweden does not mandate a 13th or 14th month salary. Instead, employees receive a statutory holiday pay supplement (semestertillägg) during their annual leave — an addition of at least 0.43% of monthly salary per paid vacation day (broadly equivalent to an extra ~12% of a month's pay spread over the leave period) under the Annual Leave Act.
There is no general statutory regulation of job titles in the Swedish private sector, and employers have broad discretion in defining roles. Certain regulated professions (e.g., medicine, law, some engineering and financial roles) require specific licensing or registration with the relevant authority, but this governs professional qualification rather than job-title wording itself.
Total statutory employer social contributions (arbetsgivaravgifter) are 31.42% of gross salary, made up of: sickness insurance 3.55%, parental insurance 2.60%, old-age pension 10.21%, survivors' pension 0.60%, labour market fee 2.64%, work injury (occupational accident) insurance 0.20%, and a general payroll tax 11.62%. There is no salary ceiling on these contributions. A reduced rate (pension contribution only, 10.21%) applies to employees who have reached state pension age (67 in 2026). Many employers also pay into collectively agreed occupational pension and insurance schemes (e.g., ITP, SAF-LO) on top of the statutory rate.
Employees pay a general pension contribution (allmän pensionsavgift) of 7% of gross salary up to an income ceiling. In practice this is fully offset by a matching tax credit against income tax, resulting in near-zero net cost to the employee. Employees additionally pay progressive municipal income tax (around 32% on average, varying by municipality) and a national income tax of 20% on income above the annual threshold (approximately SEK 643,000 in 2026), all withheld by the employer under the PAYE system.
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Sweden funds its social insurance system primarily through employer contributions (arbetsgivaravgifter), totaling 31.42% of gross salary with no cap:
Employees additionally pay a general pension contribution (allmän pensionsavgift) of 7% of gross salary up to a ceiling, which is offset by a matching tax credit and so has near-zero net cost.
Work-related injuries and occupational illness are covered under the statutory work injury insurance (arbetsskadeförsäkring), funded by the 0.20% component of employer social contributions and administered by Försäkringskassan.
Sweden has no general statutory severance pay requirement.
Sweden does not have a mandatory 13th or 14th month salary.
P.S. our team speaks multiple languages and we'd love to chat in your preferred language if requested.
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
