At the same time, the significance of one particular sector should not be over-emphasised; employment at Ericsson corresponded to approximately one per cent of the total number of employees in Sweden. In recent times, the Swedish economy has been characterised by a clear division into two parts. Employment in manufacturing declined during the greater part of 2001 and this development has continued during spring 2002. On the other hand, employment in the private services sector increased last year, although this rise has been subdued slightly during the spring. A generally weak demand in industry, combined with problems of a more structural nature in the information and telecom sector has led to considerable cutbacks in employment and vacant production capacity within these parts of the economy. At the same time, the expansionary economic policy has been a contributing factor in sustaining the demand for consumer goods and services. This is the explanation for employment remaining at a high total level and even strengthening somewhat during 2001, despite the decline in economic activity. Developments during spring 2002 indicate a slight weakening on the labour market and although growth in the Swedish economy is expected to recover this year, the positive effect on unemployment will probably be delayed until next year. The number of job vacancies has increased during the first four months of the year, while the number of notices of redundancy has declined. However, unlike last year, many of the vacancies are temporary summer jobs.
As inflationary pressure can vary according to demand and changes in the level of resource utilisation, the events caused the Riksbank and other central banks to decide to lower their instrumental rates shortly after the attacks. Now that almost exactly nine months have passed, we can conclude that the impact on the global economy was less than feared, although some sectors, such as the airline industry, were hard hit. Furthermore, we are seeing increasing signs that economic activity is improving both in the USA and Europe. One factor that often contributes to turnarounds in economic activity is companies’ stockbuilding. When stocks are well-filled and sales decline, companies cut back on production so that it becomes even lower than demand. This destocking then pushes economic activity down to begin with. When the cutback in stocks gradually reaches an end, companies can increase production again without waiting for demand to increase. This gives increased strength to the upturn in activity. It is probable that this is the case right now; according to several indicators production has begun to increase and a certain amount of optimism is beginning to spread. The total economic policy is expansionary in many countries, which provides additional fuel to the sequence of events. The economic situation in the USA and Europe This means that demand on Sweden’s most important export markets is increasing. The turnaround has been particularly noticeable in the USA. There, both residential construction and household demand have been upheld during the economic slowdown by stimulation policy.