On 8 July 2021, the Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) published unemployment figures for June 2021.
By the end of June 2021, there were close to 132,000 people registered as unemployed across Switzerland, 11,000 fewer than at the end of May 2021, bringing Switzerland’s overall unemployment rate down from 3.1% to 2.8%.
Youth employment dropped particularly sharply compared to a year earlier. Unemployment among this age group (15-24) was down 32% year on year. By contrast, among those aged 50-64 year-on-year unemployment was up by 1.9%.
By the end of June 2021, only 28 people had exhausted their 2-year unemployment insurance payments, which were extended for 66 days in response to the pandemic.
The SECO figures are based on people registered as unemployed at regional employment centres and exclude those that have been out of work for more than two years, exhausting their rights to collect unemployment benefits. Most measures of unemployment, such as the one recommended by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), typically include this group.
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SECO press release (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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