Sweden's unemployment rate plunged to 8.8 percent of the workforce in May from 9.8 percent a month earlier, the national statistics agency SCB said Tuesday.

• Swedes richer than ever
• Sweden’s unemployment expected to drop

About 434,000 people were actively seeking employment in the Scandinavian country last month, indicating that "the previous increase in unemployment (seems) to have levelled out," SCB said in a statement.

In April, the number of people looking for work in Sweden had jumped to 483,000, an increase of 80,000 year-on-year and of 35,000 compared to March.

In May, the unemployment rate represented "no statistically significant changes compared to May 2009," SCB said, adding however that "seasonally adjusted data shows a slight upturn in the number of employed persons."

Corrected to account for seasonal factors, Sweden's jobless rate last month was still 8.8 percent, while in April it stood at 9.3 percent, with a total of 4.514 million people employed in the country.

According to the latest estimates from the Finance Ministry, published in March, Sweden's jobless rate is expected to stabilise around 9.4 percent this year before gradually sinking to 6.6 percent by 2014, with the rising employment fueled by economic growth.

The country, which was hard-hit by the global financial crisis but which emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009, posted in the first quarter this year a 1.4-percent rise in its gross domestic product compared to the previous quarter and a 3.0-percent hike year-on-year.