National economy Situation on the Swiss labor market continues to brighten
The outlook for employment in Switzerland has brightened further. The reason for this is likely to have been Switzerland's tariff agreement with the USA, as the KOF Institute at ETH Zurich wrote on Monday.
02.02.2026, 09:55
SDA
The KOF Institute's quarterly employment indicator stood at +2.4 points in the first quarter of 2026. In the previous quarter, the indicator stood at +1.3 points (revised from +0.7) and in the third quarter of 2025 it was negative at -0.5 (revised from -0.6).
According to the KOF Institute, the upward revision in the employment indicator was due to improved expectations between October and December. This is likely to be related to Switzerland's declaration of intent with the USA and the new customs regulations of November 14.
Overall, according to the KOF evaluations, more companies are currently expecting an increase in jobs than there are companies that are expecting a reduction in jobs.
Weak trade
As a result of the recent increase, the KOF Employment Indicator is now back above its long-term average, the report continued. The outlook for the Swiss labor market has improved slightly, but the sectoral picture remains mixed.
In trade, for example, the outlook remains subdued. The employment indicator for the wholesale sector fell further in the current quarter to -11.1 after -9.6 points in the previous quarter. And the retail sector is also in negative territory at -3.1 points.
The indicator is also in negative territory in the manufacturing sector, although it has recovered compared to the previous quarter. In industry, the indicator rose from -11.5 points to -7.0 points. In the hospitality industry, it improved slightly to -2.4 points.
Increase in construction
In other services, the indicator remained in positive territory at +7.3 points. However, the value has fallen slightly. The positive trend in construction continued and the indicator rose to +10.6 from +9.5 points. According to the KOF Institute, this is the highest level in over two years.
The KOF Institute's quarterly economic surveys form the basis for the employment indicator. The evaluations are based on the responses of around 4,500 companies that were surveyed in January.
