Short-time work on the decline Unemployment rate rises to 2.4 percent in August

The number of unemployed people in Switzerland increased again in August. As a result, the rate rose to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent in the previous month of July.

At the end of August, 111,354 people were registered as unemployed in the regional employment centers (RAV), as reported by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) on Thursday. This was 3638 more than in July.

Adjusted for seasonal effects, the number of unemployed rose by 1831 people. The adjusted unemployment rate thus remained at 2.5 percent.

The unemployment rate is subject to seasonal fluctuations because there is more or less work in some sectors at certain times of the year. For example, many construction sites are closed in winter and there is less work in tourism in the off-season. This is masked by the adjusted figure.

Short-time work on the decline

The development of other important key figures on the labor market was comparable. For example, Seco counted 180,236 jobseekers in August. This was 1097 more than in the previous month. However, the jobseeker rate remained at 3.9 percent. Seasonally adjusted, the rate remained at 4.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of vacancies registered with the RAV fell by 428 to 36,246. According to Seco, 17,859 of these jobs were subject to the registration requirement, which applies to occupations with an unemployment rate of at least 5 percent.

There is still no dramatic increase in short-time work. On the contrary, only 3,871 people were on short-time work in June - the data is reported with a delay - which is 2,480 fewer than in the previous month. The number of companies affected fell by 69 to 235.

SDA