A third of of the country's jobless in June were full-time students.

• Sweden's economy grows faster than expected

Sweden's unemployment rate jump to 9.5 percent of the workforce in June from 8.8 percent a month earlier but was little changed from the equivalent figure last year, official data showed on Thursday.

About 488,000 people were actively seeking employment in the Scandinavian country last month, which was not a statistically significant change compared to the same figure last year when Sweden registered 10 percent unemployment, the data from the statistics agency SCB showed.

"It is the second month in a row that unemployment has not increased significantly over the course of one year," the agency said.

Compared to May, when about 434,000 people were looking for work, there was however a clear increase, but this was largely owing to seasonal variations, according to SCB.

Many students in Sweden register as unemployed during the summer months, and in June a full 29 percent of the country's jobless were full-time students, the statistics showed.

The data, once adjusted for seasonal factors, showed that 8.1 percent of the labour force aged 15 to 74 was unemployed in June, down from 8.8 percent 12 months earlier and from 8.7 percent in June 2009.

The latest estimates from the Finance Ministry, published at the beginning of last month, put Sweden's jobless rate is expected to tick in at 8.9 percent this year, before gradually sinking to 6.0 percent by 2014.

The country's economy, which was hard-hit by the global financial crisis but which emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009, has in recent months been described as a rare bright spot in beleaguered Europe.

The finance ministry last month raised its economic growth forecasts for Sweden to 3.3 percent this year from a previous estimate in April of 2.5 percent.