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The banking sector has been particularly affected by redundancies. <\/p>\n
Dominik Baur \/ Keystone <\/p>\n
The number of people\u00a0in Switzerland\u00a0who are\u00a0out of work increased for the second year in a row. This contrasts with the situation in the European Union, where unemployment rates have\u00a0remained\u00a0stable. What are the reasons behind this?\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
This content was published on <\/p>\n
February 24, 2026 – 09:00\n<\/p>\n
Switzerland is often portrayed as an island of full employment in the heart of Europe. While the unemployment rate is still comparatively lower than in most neighbouring countries, the gap is no longer as great as it used to be.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Between the third quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) rose from 4.7% to 5.1% (+0.4 percentage points) in Switzerland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The increase was slightly less pronounced in Germany (+0.3), France (+0.3)\u00a0and Austria (+0.2). In Italy, unemployment remained constant at 5.6%. The average for the 27 EU member\u00a0states has also stayed stable (at 5.7%).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSwitzerland is highly dependent on its exports, so the global economic situation can have a greater impact than in EU countries, whose economies are less reliant on trade with the rest of the world,\u201d says Giovanni Ferro-Luzzi, a professor of economics at the University of Geneva and the Geneva School of Business Administration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Being so export-reliant, Swiss industry has been particularly affected by the uncertainty surrounding the\u00a0additional\u00a0customs tariffs of 39%, and then 15%, imposed\u00a0in 2025\u00a0by the United States, Switzerland\u2019s second-largest trading partner after the European Union.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCompanies are having to react fast by cutting back their workforce or freezing hiring. As Switzerland has an open and mobile labour market, the effects are quickly reflected in the unemployment rate as calculated by the ILO,\u201d says Stefan Heini, head of communications at the Swiss Employers\u2019\u00a0Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Strong franc and merger of Credit Suisse and UBS<\/p>\n
The export industry is also being penalised by the appreciation of the Swiss franc, which is sought after as\u00a0a safe haven\u00a0in times of economic and geopolitical uncertainty \u2013 like\u00a0today. At the end of January, the Swiss franc reached its highest level against the US dollar (0.76 centimes to the dollar) since 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strength of the Swiss franc is putting a lot of pressure on the metal and mechanical industries, as well as watchmaking,\u201d says Daniel Kopp, central secretary of the Swiss Trade Union Federation. In these sectors, recourse to\u00a0partial unemployment<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 in which shorter working hours are topped up by state benefits \u2013 has helped limit the social fallout. In the watchmaking industry, only 835 jobs were lost last year, although the sector saw a decline in exports for the\u00a0second year\u00a0running.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The pharmaceutical and life sciences industries,\u00a0on the other hand, have been hard hit by layoffs. In 2025, this sector had the highest redundancy rate (nearly 30%\u00a0of the total), according to the\u00a0Labour Market BarometerExternal link<\/a>\u00a0published in late January by the employment agency von Rundstedt Switzerland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason is primarily cyclical, although long-term, structural upheaval cannot be ruled out if the US administration keeps stepping up pressure on this sector in the years\u00a0ahead,\u201d says Ferro-Luzzi. Relocating the pharmaceutical industry to the United States is one of\u00a0the\u00a0priorities\u00a0of Donald Trump\u2019s administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unemployment has also gone up in the financial services sector, mainly\u00a0as a result of\u00a0the Credit Suisse-UBS merger (which has already cost more than 36,000 jobs worldwide in the last three years, according to an\u00a0analysis by Swiss public television SRFExternal link<\/a>). This is\u00a0compounded by restructuring announcements by other banks and insurance companies. Forecasters at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) therefore expect the unemployment rate to continue to rise in 2026, albeit at a moderate pace.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Long-term unemployment on the up<\/p>\n In 2023, as Switzerland\u00a0emerged\u00a0from the\u00a0economic crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, employment prospects were exceptionally good. The country registered some 70,000 long-term unemployed according to the ILO definition,\u00a0compared to\u00a0nearly 110,000\u00a0two years earlier.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, however, the\u00a0threat of long-term unemploymentExternal link<\/a>\u00a0once more looms over workers. In 2025,\u00a0nearly 84,000\u00a0people had been without a job for over 12 months. Although the proportion of long-term unemployed compared to the total number of unemployed\u00a0remains\u00a0relatively low\u00a0(less than 10%, according to SECO), this situation is difficult for those concerned.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a problem because it is well known that being out of the job market for a long time makes it more difficult to return to work,\u201d says Ferro-Luzzi. \u201cMotivation gives way to discouragement among the unemployed, and employers see the length of unemployment \u2013 very often wrongly \u2013 as a\u00a0\u2018sign\u2019\u00a0that the person is less attractive as a candidate.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Fewer job vacancies\u00a0<\/p>\n As a corollary to this situation, the number of job vacancies is also decreasing. Back in 2022, Switzerland faced a\u00a0record labour shortage<\/a>, with\u00a0nearly 130,000\u00a0openings listed. By 2025, this figure had fallen to below 90,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n The experts interviewed by Swissinfo ascribe this drop\u00a0mainly to\u00a0the worsening economic climate.\u00a0For 2026,\u00a0SECO has forecast GDP growth of only 1.1%. However,\u00a0structural labour shortages, mainly triggered by demographic ageing<\/a>, are expected to increase again, and to weigh heavily on Swiss companies in the coming years. \u201cThe biggest shortages are expected in the healthcare, construction and catering sectors,\u201d says Heini.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As for the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world of work, its impact on employment\u00a0remains\u00a0difficult to\u00a0determine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI is above all changing the way we work,\u201d says Fran\u00e7oise Tschanz,\u00a0a\u00a0spokesperson for SECO. \u201cIn Switzerland, for example, over the last two decades digitalisation has led to an increase in activities that cannot be automated, while automatable activities have declined in importance. However, this change has been gradual,\u00a0and overall employment has continued to grow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While there are signs of\u00a0increasing\u00a0unemployment in sectors particularly affected by AI \u2013 information technology, banking, administration \u2013 the trade unions believe that this new factor will play a \u201csecondary\u201d role in the future job market. \u201cWe do not think that AI will lead to mass unemployment,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0Kopp.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Edited by Virginie Mangin. Adapted from French by Julia Bassam\/gw.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n More<\/p>\n More <\/p>\n Demographic shifts cause Swiss labour market crunch <\/p>\n This content was published on <\/p>\n Feb 6, 2023 <\/p>\n Switzerland\u2019s ageing population and changing lifestyles are profoundly transforming the labour market. <\/p>\n![\"ouvriers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1ad1241bbde3da8f033187b18c300a10-batiment-data.jpg\")
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