The gap in unemployment between native-born and foreign-born residents remains wide – at 4.2 percent and 13.4 percent respectively – it is continuing to shrink.
Over the past year, the number of unemployed foreign-born residents fell by 18,000 to reach 179,000 at the end of August. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed native-born Swedes dropped by 4,000 to 170,000.
Overall, 6.5 percent of the workforce – or 349,000 people – were registered as unemployed with the country's job agencies at the end of August. That's a slight improvement compared to 7.0 percent the previous year.
However, the number of people served with redundancy notices rose in August to just over 2,900, representing an increase on recent months, according to seasonally adjusted figures.