Unemployment rate drops in April
The jobless rate in Switzerland has dropped for the third consecutive month, with 5,000 fewer unemployed in April than in March.
Seasonal fluctuations were behind the slight decrease in the national rate, which currently stands at 3.8 per cent.
The latest figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) reveal that 150,671 are unemployed across the country.
Graubünden, whose economy is driven by tourism, was the only canton to register a slight increase (0.5 per cent) in the number of people without a job.
Rita Baldegger from Seco’s labour department told swissinfo that the so-called seasonal effect accounted for much of the drop.
“The decrease in the unemployment rate should be seen from a seasonal perspective – when one discounts this, for example in tourism, there is a growth stagnation,” Baldegger explained.
Most affected
Geneva remains the canton with the highest jobless rate or 7.5 per cent, followed by Vaud (5.5 per cent) and Ticino (4.6 per cent).
The lion’s share or 62.6 per cent of unemployed people reside in German-speaking Switzerland.
Young people remain one of the groups most affected by unemployment.
The statistics for April indicated that nearly 18 per cent (or 26,643) of those out of work were young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
But it was not all bad news for this section of the population – 1,634 of them stopped signing on, making for a decrease of 5.7 per cent.
The sector most hit by joblessness is the services industry with more than 100,000 people claiming unemployment benefit.
More than 40 per cent of those registered unemployed are non-Swiss nationals.
Overall, most of Switzerland’s jobless have been out of work for six months or less but slightly more than a fifth have been unemployed for more than a year.
Nearly 90 per cent of people on the books had been in previous employment.
swissinfo
Geneva is the canton with the highest jobless rate or 7.5 per cent, followed by Vaud (5.5 per cent) and Ticino (4.6 per cent).
62.6 per cent of the unemployed reside in German-speaking Switzerland.
The unemployment rate in Switzerland is currently 3.8 per cent, a slight decrease on the previous month.
A total of 150,671 are registered unemployed across the country.
26,643 of those out of work are young people between the ages of 15 and 24.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.