Sweden's unemployment rate remained stable in April at 8.3 percent of the work force, ending five consecutive months of rising jobless figures, Statistics Sweden said Tuesday.

Around 403,000 people were out of work in April, 110,000 more than in April 2008 when the unemployment rate was 6.0 percent, the agency said in a statement.

In figures released last month for March, 404,000 were unemployed in Sweden.

In April, 4.46 million Swedes held down a job, a drop of 116,000 from the same period last year.

Statistics Sweden attributed the fall in the numbers of people employed to two main areas: the manufacturing and mining sectors as well as business and financial services.

"Within these industries the number of persons employed decreased by 47,000 and 41,000 respectively," the statement said.

Sweden's economy officially entered a recession in the third quarter of 2008 and the government forecasts the country's economy will shrink by 4.2 percent this year.

Unemployment in the Scandinavian state is expected to reach 8.9 percent this year and swell further to 11.1 percent in 2010 and 11.7 percent in 2011, according to forecasts by the Swedish finance ministry.