Older unemployed workers in Switzerland need more support to find a job
Keystone
A trade union umbrella group has reiterated calls for additional measures to help unemployed older workers in Switzerland find a job.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch with agenices/ug
Presenting its demands on Wednesday, Travail Suisse said employees aged over 50 should benefit from special coaching offers and it urged regional employment centres to increase efforts to encourage companies to offer jobs for older workers.
The group also said more preventive measures were needed, including further education, to reduce joblessness.
Nearly 27% of unemployed workers over 50 need more than 12 months to find a job, according to Travail Suisse, which represents about 150,000 members.
The appeal was launched ahead of a third national conference next week of delegates from the federal and cantonal authorities, employers and trade unions to discuss the role of older workers in the labour market, notably to make up for a shortage of skilled labour in some sectors.
The leading Trade Union Federation, with about 380,000 members, has been calling for older workers to benefit from increased legal protection from dismissal at the workplace.
In a 2014 report, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Switzerland could do more to tackle age discrimination.
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.
Read more
More
Too old to be hired, too young to retire
This content was published on
The second-floor office in the Regional Employment Centre (RAV) serving central Bern is full of large plants. Birds twitter outside the windows, and the sun shines in. Spring has sprung in the Swiss capital, but the people coming to RAV aren’t necessarily enjoying the weather. They’ve lost their jobs, and finding a new one can…
Swiss could do more to tackle age discrimination at work
This content was published on
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says Switzerland could do more to combat discrimination of older workers.
Survey finds older workers are more motivated, satisfied
This content was published on
According to the EY 2016 Jobs Survey, workers in Switzerland in the over-61 age group are significantly more motivated at work than their younger colleagues.
This content was published on
“The aging population and the popular decision to limit immigration has set the Swiss economy a Herculean task,” said association president Valentin Vogt on Tuesday. He was speaking at a press conference held in conjunction with the think-tank Avenir Suisse and Swissmem, the umbrella organisation for 1,000 companies in the machine industry. “The baby boomers…
This content was published on
For Yvonne Gilli of the Swiss Green Party, the biggest challenge related to the ageing of the population “will clearly be the costs”. . .
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.