Sweden sees record number of people put on notice in March - Public Employment Service

STOCKHOLM, March 30 (Reuters) - A record number of people in Sweden were given job termination notices in March, surpassing the pace during the financial crisis, the Swedish Public Employment Service said on Monday.

"We have never seen such high numbers of notices in a month. In the past week, the number of people given notice has doubled," Annika Sunden, chief analyst at the Swedish Public Employment Service told a news conference.

In total 36,800 persons received notice of termination in March, compared to 3,292 in March last year.

Sunden said it was too early to say how many of those put on notice would actually lose their jobs and that the extensive measures taken by the government likely would help save jobs.

"The government's measures are expected to have a dampening effect on the number of dismissals. But what primarily determines how much unemployment increases is how long the crisis will be," she said.

Sweden's government has launched a range of measures, including loan guarantees for small and medium sized companies, tax amnesty and extra cash for local authorities to help fight the coronavirus. (Reporting by Johan Ahlander; editing by Johannes Hellstrom)