FX.co ★ Sweden Jobless Rate Climbs To 7.6%

The Swedish jobless rate increased further at the start of the year to the highest level in seven months, figures from Statistics Sweden showed on Friday.

The unadjusted jobless rate rose to 7.6 percent in January from 6.9 percent in December.

In the same month last year, the unemployment rate was 8.3 percent.

The number of unemployed persons increased to 422,000 in January from 379,700 in the previous month.

Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 accounted for 124,000 unemployed, or 20.2 percent of the workforce, the agency said.

At the same time, the employment rate remained stable at 68.1 percent in January, representing 5.14 million employed people.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the jobless rate was 7.2 percent in January.