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In July 2020, 23 percent of all young people in the workforce between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed, or 164,000 young people, according to Statistics Sweden. That number is beginning to approach the worst months of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
In general, economic crises against those who are furthest from the labor market, in today’s Sweden, especially young people and newcomers. A missed summer or an extra job during the study period need not have major consequences, but there are those who should be concerned, according to Örjan Sjöberg, professor of economic geography at the Stockholm School of Economics.
– Especially those who finish high school and enter the job market seriously. There, your entire working life can be affected in the long run, when you’re not going the way you want, or not as fast as you want, he says.
Gender-segregated labor market
It was precisely this pattern that could be seen after the financial crisis, which took longer for these people to establish themselves in the labor market. But in the current crisis, the situation is partly different.
– This time it goes very wrong, because different industries are affected differently. The consumer services sector has been hit harder than the economy as a whole, and many young people work there, mostly as seasonal workers, says Örjan Sjöberg.
In addition to the 164,000 unemployed youth, another 70,000 have lost their fixed-term jobs. And there is a difference between men and women.
– Youth unemployment is slightly higher among young men. It is related to the results of the study and education, but also to the affected industries. We have a fairly gender-segregated labor market in Sweden, says Örjan Sjöberg.
Pensions exposed to the stock market
Therefore, the situation of young people is difficult, especially in the labor market. But the elderly are also affected.
– Many retirees still work part-time a couple of days a week. Raising the pension in this way can be more difficult when many additional jobs disappear, says Jens Magnusson, a private economist at SEB.
However, the great concern of many who have retired, or will soon be retiring, has been different: what about the pension money?
– You probably don’t have to be as worried as many last spring. We have a tendency to exaggerate how much of the pension is listed on the stock market. Most of the pension is not affected by the stock market, especially not for those who are a little older, says Jens Magnusson and continues:
– For those who are around 40 years old or younger, the pension is much more exposed to the stock market. But younger people also have more time to retire, so it’s time to bounce back several times before it’s time to use the money.
Historically, both prices and sales in the housing market tend to fall in times of crisis. And many observers initially suspected that we would have quite large effects here too. But they have been absent.
– We can say with some surprise that sales and prices have remained high. Some may have expected a drop in prices to be able to enter the housing market, but for both individual homeowners and the economy as a whole, it is problematic with large drops in house prices, says Jens Magnusson.
Facts: 13 or 23 percent
According to the international criteria that Statistics Sweden follows, an unemployed person is counted as follows. Three conditions must be met:
1. I did not have a job during the reference week.
2. Have applied for work in the last four weeks.
You can accept a job during the reference week or two weeks later.
In addition, another group is added, something that increases youth unemployment. The unemployed also include those who have a job that starts within three months from the time of the question but who could have started working already during the reference week and two weeks later, the so-called waiters. For example, full-time students who have been assigned a summer job and are waiting for it to start are counted as unemployed.
So Statistics Sweden records a youth unemployment rate of 23% in the age group 15-24. Among the unemployed in total, 500,000, there were 86,000 full-time students, they can be high school and university students.
The employment service only measures those who are registered as unemployed. Youth unemployment today is 13.5 percent, but later in the 18-24 age group.
