Mixed macro trends in Sweden August 2022

There are mixed sentiments in the public opinion and the current stats from job market figures and household savings in Sweden.

On the positive side we can see that the unemployment rate is low, 6,4% in July which is 1,6 percent points lower than the previous year. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the same period is 7,4% which means that July is a month with historically low unemployment rate compared to the rest of the year.
 

Unemployment rate, persons aged 15–74

On a semi-positive side we can see that the households financial net worth dropped 10% in the 2nd quarter of 2022, this primarily due to big negative movements in the stock market (-17,6% in Q2 2022) combined with a decline in housing prices. But we can at the same time se an all time high of savings in traditional bank accounts which is a much safer short time storage of wealth with high volatility in the markets, the total deposits in bank accounts reached 97 billion SEK during the 2nd quarter of 2022, on average 12,9 kSEK per person between 15 – 74 years.
 

Value change in households’ financial net wealth and Affärsvärlden’s General Index

On the negative side we have information from the Swedish Institute of Economic Research who predicts a grim fall / winter due to high inflation rate and increasing mortgage rates combined with expected high energy prices and demand during the fall and winter. The energy problems is partly due to the continuing Ukraine invasion and decreased energy supply in Sweden after prematurely shutting down fully functioning power plants before having a reliable supply for other sources.
One of our debt collection partners summarize this well (in Swedish) on the bottom link below.

Links:

Labour Force Survey from SCB:
https://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/statistics-by-subject-area/labour-market/labour-force-surveys/labour-force-surveys-lfs/pong/statistical-news/labour-force-surveys-lfs-july-2022/

Savings Barometer from SCB:
https://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/statistics-by-subject-area/financial-markets/financial-accounts/savings-barometer/pong/statistical-news/savings-barometer-2nd-quarter-2022/

Sergel Groups press release:
https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/sergel_kredittjanster_ab/pressreleases/klara-av-laagkonjunkturen-3199066

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