Records smashed as Swedish jobs mushroom

Last week the Swedish Employment Service received notification of over 24,000 new jobs, which is the highest ever figure for a single week.

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The record week followed a record month for job creation. In January the employment service took in 75,000 notices of new jobs, the largest number since the agency began measuring the flow of jobs in 1970.

If job creation continues at the current pace the new record will be smashed again in February, with the number of new jobs potentially hitting 100,000.

The average for last year was 10,000 jobs per week.

But official unemployment statistics are not dropping at the same pace, primarily because more and more people are seeking entry into an attractive labour market. People in this category include those who have left studies to seek work, or people formerly on various forms of sick pay.

At the end of last week 207,747 people were openly unemployed, according to the Swedish Employment Service.

This was 4,801 people fewer than the previous week, and 35,912 people fewer than the same period last year.

A total of 105,474 people were involved in labour market programmes, up 515 on the previous week but down 29,803 on the previous year.

When the figures are combined the number of people either unemployed or involved in labour market programmes is 313,221. This is 4,286 fewer than the previous week and 65,715 fewer than the same week in 2006.