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Abstract Background Despite high rates of youth suicide attempt, little is known about patterns of functional impairment in terms of sickness absence and disability pension (SA/DP) before and after an attempt. The aim was to identify SA/DP trajectories among young adults with or without suicide attempt and to describe associations of socio-demographic and clinical factors with such trajectories. Methods This is a population-based cohort study of 5385 individuals aged 25–40 years with a first suicide attempt during 2007–2009. One control for each case without suicide attempt was matched by socio-demographic factors. Trajectories of annual SA/DP months over an eight-year period were analysed by group-based trajectory modelling. Associations between socio-demographic and clinical factors with trajectory groups were estimated by chi2-test and multinomial logistic regression. Results Two groups of suicide attempters had low SA/DP levels over time (62%). One group had constantly high SA/DP levels (16%). The remaining two groups had increased SA/DP initially, which then decreased at different time points. Socio-demographic and clinical factors were associated with different trajectories (R2 = 0.44). Suicide attempters with low levels of SA/DP were likely to be unemployed whereas a larger proportion of those with high levels of SA/DP had psychiatric health care before the suicide attempt, particularly due to schizophrenia and non-affective psychoses or personality disorders. Conclusions Young suicide attempters even with no/low levels of SA/DP were likely to be marginalised at the labour market. Schizophrenia/non-affective psychoses and personality disorders were important clinical factors for differentiating the levels of SA/DP among young suicide attempters.