The Swedish unemployment rate continued its downward trend for the second consecutive month in May, according to data released by Statistics Sweden on Wednesday.
The raw unemployment rate fell to 8.7 percent in May, the lowest in three months, down from 8.9 percent in April. In comparison, the rate stood at 7.9 percent in May of the previous year.
The number of unemployed individuals decreased to 496,000 in May from 513,000 in April. Within this group, young people aged 15 to 24 accounted for 185,000 unemployed individuals, representing 26.7 percent of the youth workforce, according to the agency's findings.
Meanwhile, the data indicated a slight decline in the employment rate, which dropped to 68.3 percent from 68.9 percent. This translates to a total of 5.187 million employed people.
