Households’ loans increasing at a slower rate Households’ loans continued to increase in the first quarter of 2019, but at a slower rate. The annual growth rate in loans was the lowest in nearly five years. Households’ financial savings amounted to SEK 59 billion in the first quarter of 2019, which was low compared with the corresponding period in recent years. 2019-05-23 • Savings barometer
Number of employees increased by 2.3 percent In the first quarter of 2019, there were 4 762 600 employees, an increase of 2.3 percent compared with the same quarter last year. Total gross pay amounted to SEK 459 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent. There were 143 800 job openings on the labour market, an increase of 2.3 percent. 2019-05-23 • Short-term employment
Number of employed persons continues to increase The number of employed persons increased by 93 000 between April 2018 and April 2019. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 6.2 percent. The number of hours worked increased by 1.9 percent, calendar adjusted. Smoothed and seasonally adjusted data shows an increase in the number of employed persons and in the employment rate. The number of unemployed persons decreased and the unemployment rate decreased to 6.2 percent. 2019-05-23 • Labour Force Surveys (LFS)
Capacity utilisation in industry increased Capacity utilisation in industry increased by 0.5 percentage points in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018 in seasonally adjusted figures. 2019-05-22 • Industrial capacity utilisation
Exchange rate effects increase liability in debt securities At the end of April, Swedish liability in debt securities amounted to SEK 7 600 billion, up by SEK 49 billion since the previous month. This increase was mainly due to a weakened exchange rate in Swedish kronor compared with the euro, US dollar and British pound currencies of issue. 2019-05-20 • Securities issues
