Swedish unemployment rate increases in December 2008

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 22 (Chinese media) -- The Swedish unemployment rate reached 6.4 percent in December as 42,000 people lost their jobs during the month, Statistics Sweden said Thursday.

"There were 309,000 unemployed people aged 15 to 74 in December 2008. The number of employed amounted to 4,519,000," the agency said in a statement, adding that there was no "significant change in the number of employed" compared to December 2007.

The number of unemployed people aged 15 to 24 totaled 102,000 last month, equaling 15.6 percent of the workforce for the age group, said the agency.

The number of long-term unemployed people reached 87,000 with 20,000 people newly listed in that category.

According to Statistics Sweden, the number of permanently employed people increased by 45,000, or 1.3 percent, during the same period. The temporarily employed decreased by 49,000, or 7.6 percent.