Swiss unemployment crept up in October 2015. The industries with the highest unemployment were hotel and restaurant workers at 9.4% and watch makers at 8.3%. Marked differences across cantons remained. The three highest were Geneva (5.6%), Neuchatel (5.4%) and Vaud (4.8%). Of these three, only Vaud changed from September, registering a decline of 0.1. The three lowest were Appenzell Innerrhoden (1.0%), Uri (0.9%) and Obwalden (0.9%) – Uri was up 0.2, Obwalden up by 0.1, while Appenzell Innerrhoden was unchanged.
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Overall, Switzerland’s unemployment rose by 0.1 to 3.3% in October 2015.
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Zurich was down by 0.1 on the month at 3.6%, 0.3% above the national average of 3.3%. Bern (2.6%), Lucern (2.1%), Basel (3.8%), Zug (2.3%) and Fribourg (2.9%) were all unchanged from September 2015.
The biggest risers were Graubunden, which saw a rise of 0.5 to 1.9%, and Ticino and Valais, both up 0.4 to 3.8% and 3.9% respectively. These cantons have a lot of hotels and tourism so increases are probably associated with the 15.1% rise in the number of unemployed registered in the hotel and restaurant industry.
Overall youth unemployment (15-24 year olds) dropped by 0.2 to 3.5%, while 25-49 year-old unemployment climbed 0.1 to 3.4% and unemployment among those 50 and over went from 2.8% to 2.9% in October 2015.
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