Unemployment is rising across the country - but Västerbotten is low

At the end of June, the number of unemployed persons enrolled in the Swedish Employment Service was 466,000 persons nationwide. This is an increase of 130,000 people compared to the same month last year, the Employment Service writes in a press release on Monday.

In Västerbotten, unemployment has risen from 5.0 per cent in June 2019 to 6.7 per cent this year. In the state, the figure for June 2020 is 9.0 percent. The reason we are so low is partly the first figure.

- We in Västerbotten have been lower for a longer period, and this is partly because we had a lower starting position than other counties when the corona pandemic struck, Joachim Ejderhäll, at the Employment Service.

It is mainly the service sector that has been hit hardest by the corona pandemic in the county, where Umeå and Skellefteå have the largest proportion of people working in the service sector. In the hinterland, the situation looks different.

- Since then, small business owners and self-employed people in the tourism industry have been hit hard, mostly because of the set of set arrangements, such as markets but also significantly less tourists and a big effect is so clear that Norway has its limit closed, explains Ejderhäll.

But there are also some positive factors that have made the labor market in Västerbotten performed relatively well during the corona. One is, among other things, that more people recruit their staff after notice, but another may be the investments made in the industrial sector.

- The labor market has been strong in recent years compared to other counties. We have had and also have future investments that make the demand for labor good, says Ejderhäll.