Press

Sweden's overall unemployment rate stood at 7.4 percent in January, down from 7.8 percent at the same time last year, according to the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen). In January, 21.0 percent of foreign-born people in Sweden were registered as unemployed, down by 1.2 percentage units in one year. "The labour market is very strong with the number of jobs growing. We're seeing a clear drop in unemployment for foreigners," said Arbetsförmedlingen analyst Annika Sundén. A total of 211,000 job seekers in January were born abroad, while 159,000 were born in Sweden. The unemployment rate among native Swedes stood at 4.0 percent, down from 4.3 last year. Youth unemployment is also falling, with 9.6 percent of people aged 18-24 registered as unemployed in January, compared to 11.3 percent in the same period last year. - The Local -