Swedish News

Fewer registered as unemployed. Too many male statues in Stockholm. No more Bingo. Low risk of sexual harassment. More rapes this summer.

Fewer registered as unemployed
At the end of July 405,000 people, 8.1 % of the workforce, registered as unemployed in Sweden. Since June there has been a decline from 8.3 %. 30,000 new places were notified to employment offices in July, 10,000 more than the same month last year. The labor market has improved also in Stockholm County. The number of new vacancies notified to the public employment service rose by 2,800 more jobs, compared to the same month last year, much of them at staffing companies and in the financial industry.
Too many male statues in Stockholm
Stockholm's city commissioner for culture, Madeleine Sjöstedt, wants to see more statues of women in the capital. A review shows that only one in ten of the city's statues depicts women. Therefore, it is now the women's turn, according to Sjöstedt.
No more Bingo
Bingo! Well, maybe not. That cheerful expression will be heard even less in Sweden in the future. Bingo halls used to be very popular, but today there are only 90 of them left, scattered around Sweden, and every year more and more are closing. “We’re losing 5 to 10 bingo halls yearly,” says Lars Elvin, CEO of Svebico, the central organization for all bingo organizers in Sweden. Some of the competition comes from Internet, but one major competitor is TV’s “Bingolotto”, which first aired in 1989. But nothing, according to Elvin, can really compete with live Bingo. “Bingo is exciting,” he says. “If you’re sitting there waiting for number 60, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re winning 100 or 5000 SEK. You get a kick out of it.”
Low risk of sexual harassment
In Sweden, the risk of being sexually harassed on the job is small compared with other countries, says a study among 12,000 people in 24 countries. Sweden ended up at the bottom together with France, with 3 % of respondents having been subjected to sexual advances by a superior. The greatest risk of sexual harassment, 26 %, came to employees in India, followed by workers in China with 18 % reporting sexual harassment, Saudi Arabia 16 %, Mexico 13 % and South Africa 10 %.  In Italy, 9 % of workers reported being sexually harassed at work, while in Brazil, Russia, South Korea and the United States a total of 8 % of workers reported being pushed for sex by a senior. All according to a survey by polling institute Ipsos.
More rapes this summer
Tragically, there’s been an increase of women being raped in Sweden during the summer. So far this year, the number of reported rapes has increased by 25%, compared with last summer. According to the Swedish Council for Crime Prevention 1,091 rapes were reported during June and July this year. That is 218 more than the corresponding period last year, a 25% increase. The statistics also show that the number of reported attempted rapes have decreased by 42 %. Sven Granath, criminologist and analyst at the Council for Crime Prevention, do not think that rapes themselves are behind the increase with as much as 25 %.
“One explanation for this increase may be partly due to the nice weather this summer. Another reason is that abuse that was previously considered attempted rape is now considered completed rape. This explains the increase in completed rapes and the reduction of attempted crimes," Sven Granath says. The police, however, have noticed a clear increase in rapes this summer. “We have many reports of rapes. They have increased over the summer, as rapes usually do during this time of year," says Ville Paloheimo, group manager for serious crimes at the Stockholm Police South District. Reports on sexual crimes in total increased by 18 % in June and July, compared with the corresponding period last year. Reports on rape of children under the age of 15 increased by 53 per cent, from 192 cases last year to 294, during June and July. During the first six months of this year was 8,460 sex offences reported, an increase with 12 % compared to the first half of 2009.