One in five notified persons is unemployed

Since the beginning of March, 98,000 have been notified of the termination. But as always, it is far from being noticed that it becomes a reality when companies charge a little more to have margins.

The Swedish Public Employment Service has now revised the statistics. Of the nearly 70,000 who were notified in March and April, just over half, 53 percent, were laid off from their jobs. One in five, 20 percent, eventually became unemployed, meaning they haven’t had time to get a new job after getting rid of the old one. Preliminary statistics show that the corona pandemic is worse than the financial crisis of 2008/2009, when the corresponding figures were 51 and 16 percent, respectively.

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– It’s a bit faster now than during the financial crisis, says Annika Sundén, head of analysis at the Swedish Public Employment Service.

The world of hotels and restaurants was the most affected. There, nearly seven out of ten were laid off from their jobs and 26 percent were left unemployed.

But despite the disappointing figures, unemployment has stopped rising, in the last week there has even been a small decline to 9.1 percent, according to figures from the Swedish Public Employment Service based on how many are registered.

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Over the summer, the authority lowered the forecast for how high unemployment is expected to be, on average 9.3 percent this year, it can be further adjusted.

– We are a little less pessimistic now, how much is too early to say, says Annika Sundén.

There are still a lot of newly unemployed signing up, over 15,000 last week, which is a high number, but many are also leaving for new jobs.

– It indicates that the economy has started, says Sundén.

There are also times for the start of school and many leave unemployment to study.

– Now there are twice as many people who leave for education than at the same time last year, he says.

Olle Lindström / TT