Unemployment among graduates from Swiss universities and universities of applied sciences increased between 2023 and 2025, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
One year after graduation, the unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organisation rose from 3.9% to 6.4% among holders of a university master’s degree, and from 3.4% to 4.9% among graduates with a bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences. By contrast, the rate among graduates of teacher-training universities remained low, at 0.7%.
The figures come from the FSO’s survey of higher-education graduates, published on August 27th 2026.
As with the class of 2022, unemployment one year after graduation was highest among bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences in music, performing arts and other arts, at 10.8%; design, at 10%; and applied linguistics, at 9.4%. Among university master’s graduates, the highest rate was in interdisciplinary and other studies, at 8.6%.
At the other end of the scale, unemployment was lowest among university master’s graduates in medicine and pharmacy, at 1.6%, and among bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences in health and social work, at 1.7% and 1.5% respectively.
Unemployment spreads to previously resilient fields
Between the graduating classes of 2022 and 2024, unemployment rose sharply in several fields that had previously fared relatively well.
Among holders of a university master’s degree, the rate more than doubled in engineering, from 2.1% to 4.8%, and rose from 3.5% to 8.5% in economics and business. It also increased markedly in the humanities and social sciences, from 5.1% to 8.5%, and in the natural and exact sciences, from 4.5% to 6.8%.
Among bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences, unemployment rose from 3% to 6.4% in engineering and information technology, and from 4.5% to 6.4% in business and services.
More graduates struggle to find suitable work
The share of graduates reporting difficulty finding a job that matched their professional ambitions also rose sharply between the classes of 2022 and 2024.
Among university master’s graduates, the proportion increased from 30% to 44.1%. Among bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences, it rose from 24.2% to 36.9%.
Graduates of teacher-training universities were an exception: the share reporting such difficulties remained broadly unchanged at around 12%.
The deterioration was particularly pronounced in some fields. Among university master’s graduates, the share struggling to find suitable work rose from 22.9% to 43.3% in engineering and from 26.8% to 43.9% in economics and business. Among bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences in engineering and information technology, the proportion more than doubled, from 18.8% to 39.6%.
The economy is increasingly blamed
A lack of professional experience remained the most commonly cited obstacle among graduates of the class of 2024 who struggled to find work. In 2025, around two-thirds of university master’s graduates and almost three-quarters of bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences cited insufficient experience.
But graduates were also much more likely than before to blame economic conditions. Among university master’s graduates, 42.5% cited the state of the economy, up from 23.8% in 2023. Among bachelor’s graduates from universities of applied sciences, the share rose from 19.5% to 37.9%.
More on this:
FSO article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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