Women have a higher unemployment rate than men in Swizerland - PHOTOPRESS/Yoshiko Kusano
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Persistently higher unemployment rates continue to affect women in Switzerland, says a report published 8 August by the Swiss Federal Statistics Office (OFS).
Between 2001 and 2011, the unemployment rate for women in Switzerland was consistently higher, 4.5 percent for women against 3.8 percent for men.
Women from non-EU/EFTA countries are most affected, as are those with children aged 7 and under.
The report suggests that the persistently higher unemployment for women in Switzerland occurs because women withdraw from the labour market more often than men to raise families. In addition, almost 47 percent of unemployed women did not actively look for work and only 39.5 percent of unemployed women registered on the jobless rolls or Regional Employment Agencies (ORPs).
Once a woman starts searching for a job in Switzerland, the median wait to find a job is 245 days against 226 days for men.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Seco, published the most recent statistics for Swiss unemployment 7 August.
