Swiss employment rate rises in first quarter of 2024
The number of employed women in the first quarter of 2024 increased more strongly than the number of employed men, compared to the same quarter last year.
Keystone / Gaetan Bally
The number of people with jobs in the country rose by 1.4% year-on-year to reach 5.3 million in the first quarter of 2024.
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Keystone-SDA
The number of employed women (+2%) increased more strongly than the number of employed men (+0.9%) compared to the same quarter in 2023, according figures published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Thursday.
The overall increase in full-time working positions was 1.3%: for men the rise was 0.2%, for women 2%. Seasonally adjusted and compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, the increase was 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.
The number of Swiss workers increased by 0.4% year-on-year. In contrast, the increase in foreign workers was significantly higher at 3.4%. This trend was particularly strong among short-term residents (+7%), those with a residence permit (+6.3%) and cross-border commuters (+4%). The increase for people with a permanent residence permit, meanwhile, was 1%.
Switzerland’s unemployment rate was 4.3% in the first quarter of 2024. According to the definition of the International Labour Organization (ILO), 216,000 people were unemployed, the same number as in the first quarter of 2023. Seasonally adjusted, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 4%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
The ILO unemployment rate is significantly higher than the unemployment rate as defined by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), which only counts people registered as unemployed at Swiss job placement centres.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp,dos
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