Q3: Swiss firms report fewer job vacancies

There were fewer job vacancies in the third quarter in Swiss firms. Keystone-SDA

The total volume of employment in Switzerland remained stable in the third quarter, edging up by 0.1% year-on-year. By contrast, the number of vacancies advertised by companies fell by one-tenth, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported on Monday.

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Federal experts counted a total of 5.53 million private salaried jobs (excluding agriculture) over the period, 2,800 more than a year earlier. Calculated in full-time equivalents, the volume of employment fell by 3,000 jobs to 4.32 million.

Women continue to be over-represented in part-time work, accounting for over two-thirds, with 2.28 million people affected.

Between July and the end of September, companies announced 88,4000 vacancies, 10,300 fewer than over the same period last year. At the same time, there was a slight improvement in the recruitment of qualified staff, with the dissatisfaction rate easing by 1.7 percentage points to 36.3%.

Companies planning to add to their workforces accounted for almost 10% of total employment, compared with 11% a year earlier, while those planning cuts accounted for 5.4% (5.1%). The Employment Outlook indicator remains positive, however, with a value of 1.02 points.

Adapted from German by DeepL/sb

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