Labor market Unemployment rate falls slightly to 2.9 percent in February
Unemployment in Switzerland fell in February. Following the primarily seasonal increase in recent months, the unemployment rate fell slightly.
06.03.2025, 07:45
06.03.2025, 07:49
SDA
At the end of February, 135,446 people were registered as unemployed in the regional employment centers (RAV) across Switzerland, as the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) reported on Thursday. This was 327 people or 0.2 percent fewer than in January.
The unemployment rate fell to 2.9 percent from 3.0 percent previously. Seasonally adjusted, the rate remained at 2.7 percent, Seco added. Depending on the time of year, seasonal fluctuations can influence the figures in some sectors. This affects the construction and catering sectors, among others.
The picture for jobseekers has hardly changed. In February, a total of 212,699 people looking for a job were registered with the RAV. This is only a decrease of 104 people compared to January. Accordingly, the jobseeker rate remained at 4.6 percent.
There were more vacancies than in January. The RAV registered 44,398 vacancies, an increase of 5.6 percent. Slightly more than half of the vacancies were subject to the reporting requirement, which applies to occupations with an unemployment rate of at least 5 percent.
Seco publishes data on short-time work with a time lag. Last December, 5733 people in Switzerland were affected by short-time work, just over half as many as in November. The number of affected company departments also fell significantly by 38 percent to 387.
