Notice the order of importance with the reasons given for the recovery.
Unemployment still over 8%.
Fiscal seems well targeted (with the possible exception of employment?).
Swedish Unemployment Falls as Economic Recovery Continues
By Johan Carlstrom
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — Swedish unemployment fell in November after the economy grew for two consecutive quarters, boosted by record-low borrowing costs, recovering demand for its exports and a government stimulus.
The non-seasonally adjusted rate, as measured by the number of people claiming benefits, fell to 5.3 percent from 5.4 percent the previous month, the Stockholm-based Public Employment Service said in a statement on its Web Site today. The median estimate of seven economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for the rate to stay at 5.4 percent.
The economy will probably grow a “few notches†faster than the government forecast in November, Finance Minister Anders Borg said last week. The government on Nov. 9 raised an earlier forecast and expects 2 percent growth next year and 3.4 percent in 2011 after a 4.9 percent contraction this year.
Unemployment will peak at 10.7 percent next year, about a year earlier than previously forecast, the government said in November. Industrial production missed analysts’ estimates in October as it fell for a third consecutive month.
Sweden emerged from its first recession since 1992 in the second quarter on resurgent trade demand and record-low borrowing costs. The government has cut taxes and raised
spending on schools, hospitals and roads to boost the economy after the worst economic decline since World War II. The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.25 percent in July.
Sweden’s unemployment rate, as measured by a survey conducted for Statistics Sweden, fell to 8.1 percent in October from 8.3 percent the previous month.
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