At the beginning of September 1999, the National Labour Market Board (Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen, AMS) issued statistics revealing that some 318,000 people were unemployed at the end of August 1999 - 7% of the labour force or 5.7% of the population between the ages of 16 and 64 years. The August figure is 56,000 down on the July level, and almost 17,000 lower than a year previously (unemployment always falls after the summer, due to more people finding work and due to people transferring to various forms of education and training). The AMS statistics are based on material collected monthly from job centres across Sweden.
According to figures from the National Labour Market Board, unemployment in Sweden fell to 318,000 people, or 7% of the labour force, in August 1999. Employers have expressed concern about labour shortages in some occupations, while both employers and trade unions have stressed the importance of education for those still unemployed.
At the beginning of September 1999, the National Labour Market Board (Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen, AMS) issued statistics revealing that some 318,000 people were unemployed at the end of August 1999 - 7% of the labour force or 5.7% of the population between the ages of 16 and 64 years. The August figure is 56,000 down on the July level, and almost 17,000 lower than a year previously (unemployment always falls after the summer, due to more people finding work and due to people transferring to various forms of education and training). The AMS statistics are based on material collected monthly from job centres across Sweden.
The number of people taking part in labour market policy programmes at the end of August 1999 was 117,000, or 2.6% of the labour force and 2.1% of the population between the ages of 16 and 64. This is more than 19,000 down on the figure one year before and the lowest August figure since 1991. Employment training is the type of programme with most participants, at about 38,000. Nearly 87,000 job-seekers registered with the Employment Service found work during August 1999. This was 35,000 up on the preceding month, a normal upturn for the season. The number finding work in August 1999 was slightly less than in August 1998. Some 36,000 new vacancies are reported, nearly 65% of which are open-ended jobs or jobs of more than six months' duration. The labour market situation varies over the country, with unemployment still high especially in the north.
According to the continuous Labour Force Survey (arbetskraftsundersökningen) conducted by Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån, SCB) the unemployment rate fell from 7.3% in August 1998 to 6.1% in August 1999, while the level of employment increased. The labour force (employed and unemployed) has increased by about 100,000 between August 1998 and August 1999.
"Of course it is positive that unemployment is going down, although it is not falling enough", says Ulla Ericson, director of the department of labour market and education at the Swedish Employers' Confederation (Svenska arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF), adding that "there is already a general problem with bottle-necks - which may cause wage rises - in almost all lines of business. There is a great need for graduate engineers and truck drivers as well as for economic assistants." The answer, according to Ms Ericson, is education, so that job-seekers can achieve the skills required for the vacant jobs." However, it must be profitable to move from unemployment to a job," she says, meaning that there must be a differential between wages and unemployment benefits in order to provide incentives for a people to look for a job.
"Unemployment going down causes only agreeable problems. 100,000 more people have found new jobs," says Mats Morin, an economist at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO). "Of course there will be a risk in the long run that the economy will become overheated. For the time being, with national consumption increasing, the risk is not there. But of course the social partners must watch out for inflation, as is also stated in the new national budget for 2000. Sweden will do this mainly in two ways, by more education for the 400,000 still unemployed, including those taking part in labour market programmes, and by a better structure for wage formation in order to prevent inflation," Mr Morin states.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1999), Unemployment continues to fall, article.
