Employment is increasing and unemployment is declining in Sweden.
Since the peak of the pandemic, unemployment has fallen by 1.9 percentage points, corresponding to 108,000 people in the country, according to the Swedish Public Employment Service.
Jönköping comes in fourth place in the country when it comes to the counties with the highest proportion of newly registered jobs during the period January to March
(see statistics in the fact box below).
Record number of vacancies
The number of vacancies at the Swedish Public Employment Service is more than ever.
In March, the number of newly registered places amounted to 157,000, which is 67,000 more than in the corresponding month last year.
- It is on a historical level.
Never before have we had so many vacancies in Sweden, says Eva Nordmark.
The vast majority of vacancies are in trade and in health and care.
At the same time, long-term unemployment remains high.
By March, 175,000 people had been out of work for more than twelve months.
That is almost half, 49 percent, of all registered unemployed.
New government assignments
People with reduced working capacity, those born outside Europe and the elderly are overrepresented among the long-term unemployed.
To overcome long-term unemployment, the government has given the Swedish Public Employment Service new assignments.
On the one hand, the authority must strengthen support for people who are long-term unemployed, among other things by increasing the physical presence in socio-economically vulnerable areas.
On the one hand, the Swedish Public Employment Service must take a holistic approach to what needs exist, and what new measures are required to get the long-term unemployed into work.
Unemployment among young people has decreased by 30 percent in one year and is now at the same levels as before the pandemic, more about that in the clip below.
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The employment service in Jönköping County sees a much greater range of job opportunities than before the pandemic.
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT