The Swiss unemployment rate fell to 2.3% in 2019, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). That’s the lowest yearly rate for almost 20 years.
SECO said in a statementExternal link on Friday that 106,932 people were registered with regional job centres in 2019, 9.5% less than in the previous year.
The only blip: the rate rose to a non-seasonally adjusted 2.5% in December 2019 from 2.3% in the previous month.
The 2019 figure “shows that the labour market is in a good state,” SECO said. This was “despite subdued economic growth”, it added.
In 2018 the overall rate stood at 2.5%. But the lower 2018 unemployment figures came with a caveat: a new, automated system for collecting information across Swiss job centres may be responsible for the bigger-than-expected decrease, SECO said at the time.
Questions have also been raised by some economists about who is actually counted as jobless in the official unemployment statistics.
More
More
Is long-term unemployment being underestimated?
This content was published on
Long-term unemployment could be much higher than previously thought due to the way labour statistics are collected in Switzerland.
SWISS is airline ‘group flagship’ says Lufthansa boss
This content was published on
Despite challenges, Lufthansa and its most important subsidiary, Swiss International Airlines, promise increased satisfaction and continued growth.
Swiss rediscover communist zeal after 84-year hiatus
This content was published on
Over 300 participants founded the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) at its congress in Burgdorf in canton Bern at the weekend.
This content was published on
Nemo brought the Eurovision Song Contest to Switzerland with a victory on Saturday evening in Malmö, Sweden. It is Switzerland's third victory in the history of the music contest.
Switzerland abstains from vote on Palestinian bid for full UN membership
This content was published on
On Friday, Switzerland abstained from the vote at the General Assembly on granting the Palestinians new rights at the United Nations (UN).
This content was published on
In 2018, some 272,700 people received social assistance payments, compared with around 278,000 the previous year. It’s the first time since 2008 that both overall numbers and the rate of beneficiaries declined. The rate of social welfare beneficiaries dropped from 3.3% to 3.2%, the FSO reported. Marc Dubach from the stats office told public broadcaster…
‘Swiss first’ list of jobs extended to unskilled workers
This content was published on
From 2020 most unskilled jobs will have to be advertised first at regional unemployment centres accessible only to Swiss residents.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.