Household disposable income increased sharply during 2007 - partly because of rising employment, and partly because of changes in the tax and transfer systems during the year. This has permitted higher household consumption, at the same time as the savings rate has risen. For the entire year of 2007, real disposable income rose by 4.1 percent, while the savings rate increased to 8.1 percent.
Continued downward trend for service production:
During 2007 productivity growth in the Swedish business sector slowed down. This affected most industries. During the first quarter productivity fell for goods as well as service producers and also for the manufacturing industry.
However, in the three following quarters development was negative only in the service industries. A reduced productivity level in the Swedish business sector has not been previously recorded for the period starting in 1994 onwards, not even during the IT crisis of 2000-2001.