Swiss job market: unemployment rate rises to 2.4%

Unemployment insurance took advantage last year of a lenient situation on the employment front to generate a revenue surplus of 1.55 billion francs. The unemployment rate certainly fell by around forty basis points over the entire financial year, to 2.4% on average, but was starting from a historically low level.

The slight deterioration is attributable to a slowdown in the economy, explains the State Secretariat for the Economy (Seco) in its periodic report on Friday.

Rise in youth unemployment rate

In the month of December alone, the number of unemployed increased by almost 8% to represent 9,179 people, when the related rate increased by 0.2% over one month to reach 2.8%. The youth unemployment rate increased by around ten basis points to 2.7% and that of seniors by around twenty points to 2.6%.

The regional employment offices (ORP) recorded a jump of 5.1% in the number of job seekers, which represented 209,024 people. The rate of job seekers thus increased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.5%. At the same time, the ORPs took note of 30,422 vacant positions – almost half of which were subject to notification requirements – or 7.6% less than in November. Excluding the effect of seasonal variations, Seco experts nevertheless calculate an increase of 2.0% in the number of places to be filled.

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