15 percent more than in 2023 Unemployment is now also on the rise in Switzerland

Unemployment in Switzerland rose steadily last year after falling to a very low level in 2023. The unemployment rate is likely to rise further in 2025.

Keystone-SDA

10.01.2025, 10:38

SDA

A trend of slightly rising unemployment figures has been observed in Switzerland since mid-2023 and this has continued in 2024, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) announced on Friday as part of the publication of the labor market data.

In 2024 as a whole, the average unemployment rate was 2.4 percent. This was 0.4 percentage points higher than in the previous year. At 2.0%, this figure had reached its lowest level since 2001 (1.7%). According to their latest forecasts, the federal government's economists expect the rate to rise to 2.7% in 2025.

Job brokers for over 50sThey get retired people out of retirement

In absolute figures, an average of 112,563 people were registered as unemployed with the regional employment centers (RAV) in 2024. This was 15 percent more than in 2023. After falling to 104,518 in June in the first half of the year, the number of registered unemployed rose steadily thereafter.

Seasonal increase in December

At the end of December, 130,293 people were registered as unemployed with the RAV, as the monthly statistics from Seco show. This was 9,179 or 7.6 percent more than in November. Compared to the previous year, the number of unemployed climbed by a good fifth.

The unemployment rate rose to 2.8 percent in December from 2.6 percent in November. The rate usually increases in the winter months, as construction sites, for example, come to a standstill. This is probably one of the reasons why the unemployment rate for foreign workers rose the most. Adjusted for seasonal factors, the rate remained at 2.6 percent.

More people were looking for a job in December. At 209,024, the number of jobseekers was 5.1% higher than the previous month and 18% higher than the previous year. The jobseeker rate thus rose by 0.2 percentage points to 4.5 percent compared to November, but remained at 4.3 percent after seasonal adjustment.

On the other hand, Seco counted 30,422 vacancies in December, 7.6% fewer than in November. Of these, 14,891 were subject to the job registration requirement, which applies to occupations with an unemployment rate of at least 5 percent.

Rising short-time work figures expected

The supply of short-time work, for which data is reported with a delay, was not too heavily utilized. According to Seco, 6922 people were affected by short-time work in October, 28 percent fewer than in September. The number of affected company departments fell by 87 to 390.

Traditional companies on the brinkThese Swiss companies have completely or partially closed down

However, in the course of the year up to the end of October, around 133 million francs in short-time working compensation was paid out, around twice as much as in the same period last year, according to the report. In view of the advance notifications to date, Seco assumes that the number of short-time work claims will increase by the end of 2024.