This study, a questionnaire survey, was undertaken to assess the influence of sickness absence and unemployment on sleep in a randomly selected group of men and women in five Swedish municipalities with very different demographic conditions, living conditions and health profiles. The survey comprised 1,948 randomly selected persons (47.7% men) of ages 20–64 years. Poor sleep was reported by 17.0% of the men and 18.5% of the women (NS). Poor sleep was 5.5 (3.5–8.6) times more common in sick listed men and 6.8 (4.7–9.9) times more common is such women than in men and women, respectively, who were not sick-listed. The proportion reporting poor sleep increased in parallel with increasing numbers of days on sickness benefit during the last year. In a multiple logistic regression analysis significant independent correlates of poor sleep in men were: being on sickness benefit (OR 2.1; 95%CI 1.1–3.8), poor somatic health (3.6; 2.0–6.3) and poor mental health (7.0; 4.0–12.3). The corresponding correlates in women were: being on sickness benefit (2.5; 1.4–4.3), poor somatic health (3.2; 1.8–5.8) and poor mental health (5.5; 3.3–9.2). Age, marital status, employment status and the place of residence were deleted by the logistic model for both sexes. It is concluded that poor sleep increased in men and women on sickness benefit but not those who were unemployed after adjustment for age, health, marital status and place of residence.