Sweden Jobless Rate Falls In March

Sweden’s jobless rate decreased in March, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Tuesday.

The jobless rate decreased to 7.1 percent in March from 8.2 percent in February.

The number of unemployed persons decreased to 389,000 in March from 453,700 in the preceding month.

The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, fell to 22.3 percent in March from 22.7 percent in the prior month.

The employment rate decreased to 67.1 percent from 67.4 percent in the previous month.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in March.

The labor force survey for March covers the period from February 24 to March 29 and thus, reflects an average for a period that covers the time both before and after the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the Swedish labor market.

“As this sudden and major shift on the labor market took place in the middle of the reference period, the results of the March LFS will not fully reflect the current situation,” the agency said.

“Despite this, there are clear signs of the effects of the crisis in several estimations in the LFS for March.”

Statistics Sweden pointed out that there was a significant drop in the number of persons in the labour force for the first time since the financial crisis.

The number of hours worked per week decreased relatively sharply, while there was a significant increase in absence among the employed.

The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com