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UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment dips in Sweden across ages

Unemployment is continuing to fall in Sweden, according to new statistics from Sweden's Employment Service.

Published: 13 January 2015 14:44 CET
Unemployment dips in Sweden across ages
Young people search for jobs at Sweden's Employment Service: Photo: TT
New figures suggest that at the end of December 2014, 385,000 people were either unemployed or in labour market programmes.
 
This means that there is currently relative unemployment of 8.1 percent, down 0.5 percentage points on December 2013, when 26,000 more people were unemployed.
 
"The labour market is continuing to improve, especially for people who have been unemployed for a short time," Mats Wadman from the Swedish Employment Service told news agency TT.
 
A statement from Sweden's Employment Service added that unemployment was falling more rapidly among women compared to men.
 
 
Youth unemployment is declining at a steady rate according to the new figures.
 
14.8 percent of people aged between 18 and 24 were registered as unemployed in December, a drop of almost 13,000 compared to a year ago, when the rate was 17.2 percent.
 
But the figures follow separate research released at the end of 2014, suggesting that while under 25s in Sweden are getting jobs, they are increasingly being given fixed term contracts rather than permanent roles.
 
In November, Statistics Sweden reported that 20 percent of the country's workforce had a job with a limited time frame. Among young people aged 16 to 25, the figure shot up to 52 percent.

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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