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UNEMPLOYMENT

Sweden has lowest EU long term jobless areas

Seven of the top ten regions in Europe for low long term unemployment in 2014 were in Sweden, new EU figures have revealed.

Sweden has lowest EU long term jobless areas
A Swedish employment office. Photo: TT
Researchers looked at the proportion of jobless people across the EU's 28 member states that had been out of work for 12 months or more.
 
Övre Norrland in northern Sweden boasted the best score in the EU with just 14.8 percent of unemployed people looking for work for over a year.
 
Bucuresti-Ilfov in Romania came second, reporting a share of 15.9 percent, followed by six other regions across Sweden, including Stockholm and the west coast area which includes the country's second largest city, Gothenburg (Västsverige).
 
 
The EU average was 49.3 percent in 2014. 
 
Sweden has a number of strategies in place designed to tackle long term unemployment.
 
The country's employment service, Arbetsförmedlingen, describes unemployment benefits as "career readjustment insurance and not an occupational insurance" and those who are out of work should – in theory – be offered help in drawing up a personal action plan to get them back into work.
 
Benefit recipients are entitled to compensation payouts for a maximum of 300 days, or 450 days if they are parents.
 
Håkan Gustavsson, a labour market analyst for Arbetsförmedlingen told The Local on Wednesday that Sweden's success in tackling long term unemployment was thanks to "the long tradition of trying to activate job seekers to a greater extent than in other European countries".
 
But he added:  "We also haven't had the same magnitude of economic crisis as in southern Europe, so it's not the same as in some places like Spain where whole industries have disappeared. So the number of 'structurally unemployed' is lower in Sweden to start off with".
 
The latest EU statistics reveal that the areas in Sweden with the highest rates of long term unemployment are Sydsverige in southern Sweden (10 percent of unemployed persons) and Norra Mellansverige in the north of the country (8.6 percent).
 
The overall jobless rate in Sweden in February 2015 was 7.8 percent, the same figure recorded each month since November 2014. Youth unemployment also remained stable albeit at the much higher rate of 22.2 percent, slightly down from 23 percent a year ago.
 
Last month an OECD report argued that Sweden has weathered the global economic crisis better than most countries but that falling school results, an inflexible labour market, and slow integration of immigrants remained a worry.
 
In getting to grips with stubbornly high youth unemployment, Sweden should “reduce the gap in employment protection between permanent and temporary contracts and increase flexibility in entry level wages," the report argued.
 
EU regions with lowest long term unemployment (in percent)
 
1. Övre Norrland (Sweden) 14.8 
 
2. Bucuresti – Ilfov (Romania) 15.9 
 
3. Mellersta Norrland (Sweden) 16.3 
 
4. Småland med öarna (Sweden) 16.6 
 
5. Västsverige (Sweden) 17.4 
 
6. Stockholm (Sweden) 17.5 6 
 
7. Östra Mellansverige (Sweden) 17.7
 
8. Norra Mellansverige (Sweden) 18.4
 
9. Pohjois-ja Itä-Suomi (Finland) 20.9 
 
10. Nordjylland (Denmark) 21.0

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.

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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