Sweden's jobless rate nudged higher in December to 9.0 percent from 8.7 percent the previous month, Sweden's labour board said on Monday, but added that the quick rise in unemployment was starting to ease up. The Nordic economy has been hit hard by the global downturn but there are signs that a recovery is starting to take hold.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that the deterioration of the job market is starting to ease up," the labour board said in a statement. "There are many indications that we have the worst of the weakening in the labour market behind us." Excluding those in job schemes, the jobless rate stood at 5.6 percent versus 5.3 percent in the previous month.
The labour board bases its measure on the number of job-seekers who register with the agency, while the statistics office releases a separate measure of joblessness based on a survey. Stefan Hornell, an analyst at Handelsbanken, said the labour board statistics reflected a similar trend in data from the Swedish statistics office which has shown the unemployment rate peaking, earlier than many in the market have expected.
"But more importantly, it suggests that the Riksbank is much too pessimistic in their forecast of the labour market as they are forecasting a peak in unemployment in end-2010," he said in a note. "A stabilisation of the labour market is a key prerequisite for the Riksbank to change its stance."