In January 2012, 4 524 000 persons aged 15-74 were employed. The number of unemployed persons amounted to 394 000, corresponding to an unemployment rate of 8.0 percent. The average number of hours worked amounted to 141.6 million per week. There have been no statistically significant changes compared to January 2011. Seasonally adjusted data shows that employment is no longer increasing and unemployment is no longer decreasing.
A slowdown on the labour market has been observed during the late autumn of 2011. This slowdown has been observed in the LFS figures in January 2012 but at a faster rate than expected. It will require at least one more measurement in order to determine the strength of the slowdown in the labour market. Statistics Sweden therefore recommends some caution when analysing both original and seasonally adjusted data.
In January 2012 the number of employed persons aged 15-74 amounted to 4 524 000. This is no statistically significant change compared to January last year. The employment rate was 63.7 percent, which corresponds to a decrease by 0.8 percentage points compared to January last year. Seasonally adjusted data shows that the previously positive trend in employment has been broken for both men and women.
On average, the number of hours worked in January amounted to 141.6 million per week, not seasonally adjusted.
In January 2012 the number of unemployed persons aged 15-74 amounted to 394 000, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 8.0 percent. According to seasonally adjusted data the number of unemployed persons amounted to 379 000, resulting in an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent. The downward trend that has been observed over a longer period of time has now ceased.