Last week, more than 14,200 people registered as job seekers at the Employment Service. The week before, there were just over 12,100.

This can be compared with the corresponding weeks in the past years, when the figures were at most just over 6,300.

Thus, the number of newly registered job seekers is now more than twice as many as they usually are at the corresponding time of year.

More open unemployed

The number of open unemployed at the Employment Service is thus also rising and now stands at almost 211,000 people, compared with just under 180,000 in the corresponding week last year.

Later today, the Employment Service presents figures on both jobseekers and notice at a press conference.