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UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment hits 9.1 percent: report

454,000 Swedes were registered as unemployed during the second quarter of 2009, new figures from Statistics Sweden (SCB) show.

Published: 20 August 2009 15:22 CEST

The resulting unemployment figure was 9.1 percent, up 2.3 percentage points on the corresponding quarter of last year.

The new report however indicates that the number of employed persons who were on sick leave for at least one calendar week dropped by 17.6 percent to 93,000 people.

The figures indicate that 4,525,000 people were in employment during the quarter, a decline of 99,000 in comparison with the same period last year.

The number of permanently employed persons decreased during the second quarter of 2009 by 38,000. This is the first time since the fourth quarter of 2004 that the number of permanent employees has declined in comparison to the same quarter.

Men dominated the statistics of the newly unemployed.

The number of temporary employees also continued to fall – down 54,000 on the second quarter of 2008, continuing the downturn which began at start of 2008.

The quarterly reports from SCB’s Labour Force Survey now feature a new theme section and this quarter compared unemployment statistics for young people aged 15-24 in Europe.

Unemployment among young people is a common problem across the continent and Sweden, at 29 percent, largely follows the same pattern as the other EU countries.

However Sweden does distinguish itself in that unemployment among young Swedish people in relation to unemployment among those aged 25-74 was the highest in the EU in 2008.

The report cites several possible explanations – differences in the way the labour market functions, demographics, the education system, the composition of the labour force and incentives for full-time students.

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BUSINESS

Unemployment in France falls slightly despite the lockdown

Unemployment in France has fallen slightly, despite the ongoing ravages of the health crisis and consequent lockdown, latest statistics show.

Published: 27 April 2021 16:46 CEST
Unemployment in France falls slightly despite the lockdown
Photo: Stephane du Sakatin/AFP

The number of unemployed job seekers in mainland France fell by 0.4 percent in the first three months of 2021, according to figures published by the French Ministry of Labour on Tuesday.

There were 3,560,600 unemployed registered at the Pôle Emploi (unemployment office), 12,200 fewer than during the last three months of 2020.

This follows a 2.7 percent fall in the final three months of 2020 – but the rate is still up 6.8 percent compared with the first three months of 2020, before Europe began to feel the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.

Currently all ‘non essential’ shops in France have been closed since April 3rd, while bars, restaurants, cafés, gyms, cinemas, theatres, museums and tourist sites have been closed since October 2020.

Despite the fall the total number of job seekers, the number of people who were in work but with reduced hours was up by 0.8 percent at the start of 2021, to 2,156,300.

That means that in total 5,716,900 people in mainland France were registered with Pôle emploi during this period, an increase of 4.9 percent compared with a year ago.

“Over the course of 2020, in one year, unemployment rose by 8 percent. This is obviously a lot, but we must remember that during the crisis of 2008-2009, unemployment leapt by 25 percent, so we can see that the government assistance is working,” Minister of Labour Élisabeth Borne told BFMTV on Tuesday.

The French government has put together a huge package of economic aid to try and mitigate the effects of the repeated lockdowns, from chômage partiel (furlough) schemes for employees to aid packages for business owners and the self-employed. But many small retailers have been hit hard by the three periods of closure for non-essential shops, while the tourist, leisure and hospitality sectors have also had a devastating year.

The economic downturn linked to the pandemic has disproportionately affected young people in France.  Across all categories of job seekers (unemployed and with reduced hours), the latest figures show a rise of 7.1 percent in a year for those under 25, compared to 4.5 percent for the 25-29 age range, and 4.8 percent for those aged 50 and over.

Men are also more likely to have signed up to Pôle emploi, with a 6.1 percent increase on last year, compared to a 3.8 percent increase among women.

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