Sweden eyeing up the euro as its dole queues lengthen

Unemployment in Sweden is expected to soar to nearly 8 per cent this year, following a recent spate of job losses. Redundancies rocketed in December, with 14,773 people permanently laid off in the run-up to Christmas, compared to just 2,397 a year earlier.

The state-run National Institute for Economic Research (Konjunkturinstitutet) has warned that the global financial crisis is set to have ‘‘substantial effects’’ on the real economy in Sweden over the next ...