The latest figuresExternal link from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) show the annual unemployment rate dipping slightly from 3.1% in 2020 to 3% last year.
The situation looked even rosier at the end of the year. The number of people registered as jobless fell 25% in December compared to the same month in 2020.
The job market has largely weathered the pandemic thanks to state hand-outs, which include extended unemployment welfare payments, an insurance scheme that pays most of the wages of people on shortened hours, plus loans and grants issued to struggling companies.
The economy is beginning to wean itself off some of these subsidies. In February last year, 523,687 employees were on shortened working hours, but this number had fallen to 48,264 by October.
The biggest threat facing companies right now is the number of staff out sick or forced into quarantine to avoid catching Covid-19.
While most cantons have reduced the quarantine period down from ten days to seven, the Swiss Business Federation this week demanded that it should be cut to five days.
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