Swedish jobless rate rises in August, employment rate falls further

Swedish unemployment came in at 7.4 percent in August, higher than expected. Employment continued to drop. On a seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment rate rose to 7.4 percent from 7.1 percent in the prior month. Consensus expectations were for 6.8 percent.

Meanwhile, employment growth continued to ease further, falling 0.2 percent sequentially and 0.7 percent year-on-year. The labor supply continued to be flat on the month. The employment trend has been gloomy this year, and indicators imply that this trend will continue throughout the fall, said Nordea Bank in a research report. Today’s acceleration implies that even the gloomy forecast might be optimistic. Weekly statistics from the PES indicate that unemployment is rising in September.

“All in all, the August labour report reaffirms that the Swedish labour market is entering a markedly weaker phase, and that the Riksbank will have to revise their view of “a strong labour market” soon. Today’s reading also reinforces our view that wage growth won’t pick up anytime soon, adding even more pressure to the Riksbank to discard it’s hiking plans in favour of a rate cut already in December”, added Nordea Bank.