Bern, Basel say no to giving the vote to foreign residents
Update 10:30 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss voters accepted by more than 53 percent a proposition to curb jobless benefit extensions. The turnout was low, just over 35 percent. The vote went down language divide lines, with Swiss-Germans approving the measure and French-speaking Switzerland rejecting it. Several commentators have noted that this is not surprising, given that the highest unemployment rates are in French-speaking areas, Geneva and Jura in particular, while a greater concern in German-speaking areas is ensuring that local and cantonal budgets are not weighed down by debts.
Swiss citizens went to the polls Sunday 26 September to vote on several national and cantonal issues. Vaud voters opted to keep the tax on entertainment. In Geneva,two-thirds of voters voted in favour of a new-version ethnography museum, and work is now expected to begin within a month.
Voters in Basel and Bern turned down proposals to give the right to foreign residents to vote in communal and cantonal elections.
Links to other sites: Le Temps (Fre), NZZ (Ger), Tribune de Geneve
Update 11:50 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The maximum number of days an unemployed person can receive state help could be reduced from 400 to 260 days for under-55s, while childless under-25s might see their entitlement reduced to 130 days of benefits, and job-seekers under 30 would be obliged to accept jobs for which they may be overqualified if measures voted by Switzerland’s lower house become law. These are some of the measures Switzerland’s lower house of parliament. The National Council voted for the measures Wednesday 9 December in an effort to slash the budget of the heavily indebted unemployment insurance agency by another CHF210 million after the upper house had already pared it by about CHF575m.
The measures need to be reconciled with the version previously voted by the Council of States before becoming law.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss unemployment rose 0.1 percent in October to reach 4 percent, the highest level since 2005, says the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), 6 November. Compared to last October, the number of unemployed people has increased 57 percent and reached 158,138, Seco says.
The numbers of people working reduced hours jumped in October: 46,936 people are partially employed in 3,118 firms across the country. This is 14.1 and 14 percent more, respectively, than last month, Seco says.
