In August, just over 4,100 people were notified of redundancy, compared to 3,400 the same month last year. It is not an extremely high level normally, but for a summer month like August, it is still an unusually high figure, the highest since 2012.
"There are several signs of a weak labor market. Just like we saw last month, unemployment is rising slightly, the number of redundancies is slightly higher, and the number of vacant positions is developing weakly," says Lars Lindvall, forecasting manager at the Employment Agency, in a written comment.
However, his forecast is that unemployment will decrease again next year as the economy is expected to strengthen.
At the end of August, 360,200 people, or 6.8 percent of the workforce, were registered as unemployed with the country's employment agencies. This is the highest level since the beginning of 2022. The corresponding figures for August 2023 were 330,900 or 6.3 percent. The highest unemployment rate is still in Skåne, 9.1 percent, and the lowest in Västerbotten, 3.8 percent.
Youth unemployment (18-24 years) shows the same pattern. 45,600 young people were registered as unemployed, 6,000 more than in August last year, with young men being significantly more unemployed than young women.
The long-term unemployed (more than twelve months) have increased by 7,000 and now stand at 144,000 people.
