Recent Updates
- US: Employment Situation (Feb), Intl Trade (Jan)
- US: Establishment Survey Detail (Feb)
- US: Household Survey Detail (Feb)
- Canada: International Trade (Jan), Ivey PMI (Feb)
- Serbia: PPI (Feb)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to $68.2 Billion in January
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $68.2 billion in January...
U.S. Factory Orders & Shipments Rise Again in January
Manufacturing activity is strengthening. Factory orders rose 2.6% (2.8% y/y) in January...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Just 9,000
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly by 9,000 to 745,000 in the week ended February 27...
U.S. Productivity's Decline Lessened in Q4'20; Reverses Q3 Increase
Revisions to nonfarm business sector productivity indicated a 4.2% decline during Q4'20...
EMU Unemployment Rate Steadies in January
The overall EMU unemployment rate was steady in January, off peak, but still elevated...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Carol Stone April 27, 2005
The Swedish labor market gives some signs of firming up in the March/Q1 report issued today by Statistics Sweden. The unemployment rate stands at 5.5%, lower by 0.3 percentage point than March 2004. Total employment is still decreasing, but quarterly data indicate a stabilizing trend, with the Q1 average 4,145,700 virtually identical to Q1 2004. The quarterly data for employment by industry also reveal that non-manufacturing jobs have started to increase, however slightly.
At the same time, the "improvement" in the unemployment situation is partially related to reduced labor force participation. As shown in the table below, a participation rate which we calculate is off noticeably from last year to 76.2% from 77.4%, reflecting a sizable rise in the number of people not in the labor force. This movement reflects some month-to-month volatility, so it probably does not imply such a severe weakening of sentiment among labor market participants. In fact, consumer confidence has firmed considerably in recent months and averaged 11.5% in Q1, the highest quarterly average since Q4 2000. If people were so concerned about labor market prospects that they were pulling out of the labor force, confidence surveys would likely give some corroborating evidence of such distress.
So labor market conditions are not particularly favorable in Sweden presently, but they do seem to be stabilizing after a protracted erosion from late 2001 to early last year.
Sweden (Not Seasonally Adjusted) |
Mar 2005 | Feb 2005 | Year Ago | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unemployment Rate (%) | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 4.0 |
Participation Rate (%)* | 76.2 | 76.2 | 77.4 | 77.8 | 78.0 | 78.0 |
Employment (thous) | 4,148 | 4,132 | 4,178 | 4,213 | 4,232 | 4,242 |
Manufacturing (thous) | Q1 2005 | Q1 2004 | 712 | 723 | 745 | |
694 | 703 | |||||
Non-Manufacturing (thous) | 3,451 | 3,443 | 3,502 | 3,510 | 3,497 |