At the end of December 2022, almost 336,000 people or 6.6 percent of the workforce were registered as unemployed at the country’s employment offices. At the end of last year, the corresponding figures were 370,000 or 7.2 percent.
But in recent months, the numbers have started to move up slightly. At the end of November, 331,000 were unemployed, which was then a low for the year, according to the Statistics of the Employment Service.
This year, unemployment is estimated to rise to an average of 6.9 percent, according to the Employment Service’s own forecast in December. But in line with the high demand for labor last year, the lack of the right skills among many employers increased, something that is expected to persist:
“Despite a declining economy, the difficulty of recruiting personnel is judged to persist in the future,” writes Anders Ljungberg, head of unit at Arbetsförmedlingen, in a press release.
Never before has Arbetsförmedlingen had as many vacancies in the job bank as last year, even though the number decreased during the autumn.
During the month, 2,493 people were notified of redundancy, almost a doubling from December 2021. But these are still historically relatively low levels.