More foreign-born people are finding jobs as Sweden’s unemployment falls slowly

The unemployment gap between native-born and foreign-born people is still large, at 4.2 and 13.4 percent respectively. But it is narrowing.

In one year, the number of unemployed foreign-born people has fallen by 18,000 to 179,000 at the end of August. The number of unemployed people born in Sweden has fallen by 4,000 to 170,000.

Overall, 6.5 percent, or 349,000 people, were registered as unemployed with the country's employment agencies at the end of August. This compares with 7.0 percent a year earlier.

The number of people given notice of layoffs in August was just over 2,900, an increase compared with previous months, according to seasonally adjusted statistics.