At the end of December, 96,941 people were registered as unemployed at the regional employment centers (RAV). The rate in the last month of the year was 2.1 percent after 2.0 percent in November, as the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) announced on Monday. The economists surveyed by the AWP news agency had expected values of this magnitude.
The unemployment rate is usually subject to seasonal fluctuations because there is less work in the winter months, for example in construction, agriculture and gastronomy. The unemployment rate adjusted by Seco for seasonal factors even fell to 1.9 percent in December 2022 after 2.0 percent in the previous month.
Compared to December 2021, the number of unemployed was 24,787 lower. It was 20.4 percent lower.
According to the Seco, the labor market development in 2022 was “increasingly characterized by a shortage of labor supply”. This resulted in a long-term low for the year as a whole. In 2022 as a whole, the average unemployment rate was 2.2 percent. That is 0.8 percentage points less than in the previous year.
In absolute figures, 99,577 people were registered as unemployed last year, 38,037 fewer than in the previous year (-27.6%).
According to Seco, this is the lowest unemployment rate in more than 20 years. According to the information, a lower unemployment rate of 1.7 percent was last reported in 2001.
But what makes employees happy is difficult for companies. It has become increasingly difficult for them to find workers over the past year.
How dried up the job market in Switzerland is can be seen from the job search data. According to Seco, this number was 167,904 in December, 2.1 percent higher than in November. A year ago, however, 41,772 more people were looking for a job.
The number of jobs reported to the RAV fell by 7,973 to 48,473 in the month under review. According to the information, 36,706 of the jobs reported as vacant were subject to the job registration requirement for occupations with an unemployment rate of at least 5 percent. These professions include several from the hotel and catering industry or construction. The list is updated for each new year.
The instrument of short-time work hardly plays a role in the Swiss labor market anymore. In October – the data are reported with a delay – only 1894 people were still on short-time work. The number of short-time workers rose by 24.2 percent or 369 people compared to September. However, the number of companies affected by short-time work fell by six to 175 companies.
(SDA)