Sweden's unemployment rate dropped significantly in July to 8.0 percent from 9.5 percent the previous month, official data showed.

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Some 415,000 people were out of work last month, Statistics Sweden said, hailing that "the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate have in recent months showed a downward trend which continued this month."

Last month's unemployment figure meanwhile marked "no statistically significant change" from the same month a year ago, the statistics agency said.

Adjusted for seasonal factors, the data showed that 8.5 percent of Sweden's working-age population, or around 423,000 people, was out of work last month, which was stable from June.

In its latest forecasts published on August 20, Sweden's centre-right government lowered its unemployment estimate to 8.5 percent for all of 2010 and to 8.0 percent next year, with the anticipated increase in jobs spurred by larger-than-expected economic growth.

The new forecasts of a 4.5-percent rise in Swedish gross domestic product this year and a 4.0-percent hike in 2011 were published just a month ahead of Sweden's September 19 elections, with the ruling coalition hoping a strong economic recovery will help it win a second four-year term.

The country's economy, which was hard-hit by the global financial crisis but which emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009, is today considered one of the strongest in Europe.