Centre and Liberals clash over unemployment figures

The Centre Party and Liberals disagree over which unemployment measure should lead Sweden's election debate.

Statistics Sweden's measure includes full-time students who are seeking additional work. Critics say this produces an unduly negative picture compared with the lower number of people registered as unemployed with the Public Employment Service.

Centre economic spokesperson Martin Ådahl, who frequently cites the Statistics Sweden figure, says arguments about measurement risk distracting from Sweden's underlying employment problem.

Liberal Employment Minister Johan Britz prefers the Public Employment Service figure and described the higher measure as misleading.

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The figures measure different groups, so the dispute cannot be resolved by presenting one number as simply correct and the other as false. The politically relevant question is whether parties explain which measure they are using and avoid comparing unlike statistics without that context.

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