Swedish Jobless Rate Climbs Amid Brewing Political Storm

Sweden’s unemployment rate rose more than expected in April as the effects of the Covid-19 crisis continued to wreak havoc across the Nordic region’s biggest economy.

The seasonally-adjusted jobless measure increased to 7.9% from 6.7% a month earlier, Statistics Sweden reported. Economists were expecting a rate of 7.8%, according to the median of seven estimates from a Bloomberg survey. The unadjusted rate rose to 8.2% amid a sharp drop in the number of hours worked, mainly within the hotel and restaurant industry.