By the end of May 2021, the percentage of Switzerland’s workforce registered as out of work had fallen to 3.1%, down from 3.3% in April 2021.
The figures are based on those registered as unemployed at regional employment centres and exclude many of those that have been out of for more than two years and have exhausted their rights to collect unemployment benefits. Many measures of unemployment, such as the one recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), include this group.
At the end of May 2021 there were 142,966 people registered as unemployed in Switzerland, 8.4% fewer than in April.
Youth unemployment (15 to 24 year olds) fell sharply. It was down 9.6% compared to April and down 28.2% compared to May last year.
Unemployment among those aged 50 to 64 was also down compared to April 2021 (-3.2%) but up 5.1% compared to May 2020.
In addition, the number of job seekers fell by 3.6% to 237,367, but remained 1.9% higher than May 2020.
Reported vacancies were higher too. Only some job vacancies are reported, in particular those in sectors with unemployment rates above 5% that are required by law to be reported. Overall, there were 55,255 reported vacancies in May 2021, a rise of 10.3% during the month.
More on this:
SECO press release (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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