BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss unemployment rose from 3.3 to 3.4 percent in January 2012, but there were still 9.7 percent fewer people out of work than in January 2011, figures published Wednesday 8 February show.
Young people accounted for a large part of the increase, with a one-month increase of 3 percent for the 15- to 24-year-old group, but compared to a year earlier, the jobless rate for this age group is down by more than 13 percent.
Retail shopping was relatively brisk in November (photo: Schilliger Garden Centre, Gland, Novembr 2011)
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Swiss prices fell at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in 2011, show figures published Monday 9 January by the Swiss Statistical Office. The November inflation rate was -0.5 percent.
Full-year consumer price index figures will be available in a month.
Retails sales figures for November 2011 were also published Monday and show a 1.8 percent increase over November 2010, with the non-food sector showing positive growth, while food, drinks and tobacco slipped slightly.
The jobless rate rose, from 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent, with 2,100 fewer new jobs posted but the unemployment rate for the year of 2011 was one of the three best in the past nine years, at 3.1 percent.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss unemployment rose to 3.1 percent in November from 2.9 in October, and the number of vacant jobs fell by 1,355 for a total of 17,395. Partial unemployment, a solution used by Swiss companies when business slows perceptibly, is on the increase.
The number of unemployed persons is nevertheless down by 14.5 percent compared to a year earlier, notes the Federal Statistical Office in Neuchatel.
Foreigners account for more than 45 percent of those on unemployment.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The impact of Europe’s economic woes hit home in Spain Sunday, with the right winning strongly in the country’s general election. Mariano Rajoy conservative People’s party won with a 16-percent lead over outgoing Prime Minister Zapatero’s Socialists, who lost one-third of their seats.
Spain’s unemployment stands at 23 percent and the economy, says the Guardian, is one of Europe’s “shakiest”. But Rajoy’s election leaves many questions, points out Le Monde in France, with few clues about his programme, who will work with him and more.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Consumer prices fell slightly, 0.1 percent, in October, Swiss federal figures published 7 November show, but the bad news is that unemployment, which has held steady despite the economic crises in surrounding countries, is climbing.
Swiss unemployment rose from 2.8 percent in September to 2.9 percent in October. Partial unemployment, for which the latest figures are August, showed a 13.8 percent increase, with 300 additional workers seeing their hours cut, but with the number of companies unchanged.
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Swiss unemployment was steady at 2.8 percent in September, unchanged from August.
The number of people out of work was 20.5 percent lower than in September 2010, with 111,344 persons on the jobless rolls.
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Swiss unemployment for the second quarter of 2011 fell to 3.6 percent from 4.2 percent in Q2 2010, using the ILO (International Labour Organization) definition, the Swiss government said 29 September. The number of employed persons rose by 2.6 during the same period.
The figures compare to the EU’s unemployment rate, which fell slightly from 9.6% to 9.4%.
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Siwss unemployment figures for August show no change in the rate, at 2.8 percent. The 2,487 additional people out of work correspond roughly to the number of new young people (ages 15-24) out of work, a seasonal factor as recent graduates come onto the job market.
The overall jobless rate is down by 21.8 percent compared to a year earlier, but UBS in a revised forecast for the Swiss economy 7 September said it expects to see unemployment rise to 3 percent and stabilize there in coming months.
Swiss trains improve punctuality: 91.5% on time
UBS forecast, Swiss economy, 7 September 2011 (source: UBS)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s economic picture Wednesday 7 September is mixed, with UBS lowering its 2012 GDP (gross domestic product) growth forecast to 1.3 percent, while luxury goods company Richemond presents first-half 2011 figures showing a XX percent jump in profits and the CFF rail company saying it is making cuts to its 2017 budget because of rising costs.
Swiss economic forecast lower, but UBS remains “optimistic”
Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, Wednesday 7 September said it is lowering GDP growth forecasts, from 2.7 percent to 2.0 percent for this year, and for 2012 from 2.2 percent to 1.3 percent, but the bank says its remains optimistic about Switzerland’s outlook.
The Swiss economy, the bank notes in a statement published Wednesday, “has performed better than many other Western industrialized economies for a number of years. One reason for this positive development, according to the UBS economists, lies in the bilateral treaties and their effect on immigration levels. The sound finances of private households, firms and the public sector – the Swiss economy is in much better shape than many heavily indebted Western industrialized countries – have also done their bit. The growing discrepancy between the Swiss public sector deficit and that of other Western industrialized countries has increased Switzerland’s attractiveness for businesses, making it a magnet for foreign firms and skilled workers.”
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The high franc and world economic news are taking their toll on Swiss consumers’ sentiment, an official quarterly Swiss survey shows: “the confidence index declined to -17 in July (after -1 in April),” reports Bern. “In particular expectations for future economic development and future unemployment levels were far more negative than in April.”
Expectations for economic development were down 22 points out of 100 and expectations for rising unemployment were up 16 points, while expectations for family household’s personal financial situations slipped by 2 points. The only positive note was the possibility of setting aside money in the current environment, more positively appreciated in July than in April.
The Swiss franc remained at near-record highs against the dollar (CHF.75), the euro (CHF1.07) and the pound sterling (CHF1.23) Tuesday 9 August, after stepping down from record highs during the night.
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – The unemployment rate in Switzerland held steady at 2.8 percent in July, figures released Monday 8 August show. The number of jobless was down slightly, by 1,178 from May and down by more than 33,000, or 23.3 percent, compared to a year earlier.
The Swiss/foreign makeup of the unemployed has gone back to 2007 levels, with 2.1 percent of Swiss unemployed and 5.2 percent of foreigners registered. The figures had risen, in 2009, to 2.7 percent and 7.2 percent. French citizens and those from the western Balkans had the highest rates of unemployment, over 5 percent, in July, among foreigners.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s unemployment rate continued to move downwards, falling to 3.1 percent in April from 3.4 percent in March, a decline of more than 22 percent compared to April 2010.
Zurich accounted for the largest share, 18.4 percent of all unemployed in Switzerland, followed by Vaud with 13.1 percent and Geneva with 11.2 percent of the nation’s total.
Geneva remains the canton with the highest rate, followed by Neuchatel with a jobless rate of 5 percent.
The unemployment rate in the three fell from March to April:
- Zurich, 3.5 in March to 3.1 in April
- Vaud, 5.2 to 4.9
- Geneva, 6.6 to 6.3.
Geneva's jobless rate remains Switzerland's highest
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The jobless rate continued to decline in March, throughout Switzerland, falling to 3.4 percent, as compared to 3.6 percent in February. The unemployment rate is down 18.7 percent compared to March 2010, figures released Friday by the Swiss Statistical Office in Neuchatel show.
Many parts of French-speaking Switzerland have had higher unemployment than the bulk of German-speaking areas during the economic crisis of the past two years. The latest figures show unemployment down in all French-speaking areas.
Geneva continues to have country’s highest jobless rate
Geneva, with 14,500 unemployed persons in March, continues to have the country’s highest jobless rate, 6.6 percent, although it declined in March, by 0.2 percent compared to February.
Foreigners remain most affected, but trend parallels the overall drop
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss jobless rate continues to drop, after its five-year high of 3.9 percent in 2010, to 3.6 percent in February.
January unemployment was 3.8 percent.
The February unemployment figures released Tuesday 8 March show that foreigners continue to have an unemployment rate that is well over twice that of Swiss workers: 7.3 percent for the non-Swiss, compared to 2.6 percent.
The largest group of unemployed foreigners remains those from the western Balkans, as has been the case for the past five years, with 7.9 percent, followed by Portuguese, with 7.3 percent unemployment and the French, 5.8 percent.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss jobless figures for January 2011 show a steady improvement, with overall employment up 1.2 percent and manufacturing up 1.4 percent over a year, the largest increase since 2007.
Bern’s official statement notes: “According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the quarterly indicators of the employment barometer show a significant year-on-year increase in employment. For the first time since the 1st quarter of 2007, employment growth is more pronounced in the secondary sector than in the tertiary sector. In addition, all short-term employment outlook indicators show a positive trend for the third consecutive quarter.”
Canton Geneva in the distance and the city of Geneva with its jet d'eau fountain
Update 17:00 / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating institution, at the end of 2010 gave the canton an AA-/stable rating. The full report, in English, was made available this week by the canton. S&P’s assessment for Geneva was mostly upbeat: “The rating on the Republic and Canton of Geneva in Switzerland reflects Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ view of Geneva’s very stable, predictable, and supportive institutional framework; the canton’s recent sustained solid budgetary performance; and its large debt reduction since 2006.”
S&P’s notes that while the canton has finished paying out for the losses of BCG that resulted from a mismanagement scandal in the 1990s, a weakness is its “still sizable unfunded pension liabilities, even though a reform of public pension pensions is under way”.
The forecast for Geneva is relatively bright, with a short-term dip in the tax revenues that make up the bulk of the canton’s resources, expected to fall by 13 percent in 201o compared to 2009 as the impact of the economic recession is felt. But S&P’s expects this revenue to pick up again in 2011-2012, “even if at a low pace. Despite management’s strong commitment to control costs, this expected trend in tax revenues will likely result in a slightly negative operating margin over 2010-2012.”
Source: Standard & Poor’s, reproduced with permission
Economic profile of Geneva shows wealth, higher wages, far higher than average foreign population
S&P’s report profiles the city using a rich set of statistics that include these details:
Strong trade with Asia, Latin America; watch and machining industries recovering
Swiss exports, November 2010, by industry, compared to November 2009 (source: Swiss Federal Statistics Office)
(video, Hublot watchmaking) Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss foreign trade improved in November 2010 compared to November 2009, with exports of CHF17.5 billion up 7.4 percent and imports of CHF15.6b up 11.3 percent, both in real terms, adjusted for inflation.
The trade balance, with a surplus of CHF1.9b, was 5 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier. The trade balance in October was more than 13 percent down from a year earlier, and in September 8 percent, indicating a closing gap as Swiss foreign trade rebounds from the global economic crisis.
Euro at record low against franc Monday
The news comes as the euro Monday 20 December reached an all-time low against the Swiss franc, dipping to CHF1.2636 at one point, report Dow Jones and Le Temps. The dollar was at CHF0.96 in trading Tuesday (Reuters chart, dollar/franc since October 2010).
For 2010 as a whole, rounded figures show that Swiss exports have risen 7 percent and imports 8 percent. The trade balance of CHF18.76 at the end of November was down 1.2 percent compared to 2009, for the year to date.
Watchmakers at Hublot in Nyon, part of a sought-after highly skilled group
The watch industry was the main driver in November, with a 30 percent increase in exports, well up from a year earlier. Metal-working, machining and electronic industries also showed good growth, but the clothing industry continued to perform weakly, with exports lower than a year earlier.
Le Temps reports 21 December that while the watch industry is hiring again, and more than 700 jobs are currently advertised in the Jura region which is the heartland of the Swiss watch industry, some of the companies are still struggling to recover.
More foreigners with C permits, border workers
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s quarterly unemployment figures can now be compared to other countries’, using ILO (International Labour Organization) methodology for calculating the numbers. Bern’s new numbers show that the active, working population in the country increased by 1.6 percent during the first half of the year, compared to Q1 and Q2 2009. Unemployment fell from 3.5 to 3.2 percent for Swiss workers and from 10.6 to 7.6 percent for foreigners.
The government attributes the rise in the number of employed to the economic recovery but cautions that the figures also reflect seasonal changes and it will take several quarters using the new calculations to make reliable seasonal adjustments.
By comparison, the European Union and the euro zone active working population fell by 0.6 percent during the first half of 2010.
New unemployment definition
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss unemployment remained stable in October at 3.5 percent, compared to September, but down 11.9 percent compared to October 2009. The overall rate hides the gap between the rate for foreigners, 6.7 percent unemployed, and Swiss, 2.6 percent.
The US central bank is to buy up to $600 billion in Treasury bonds until June 2011 in an attempt to kick-start a faltering economy, the Federal Reserve announced 3 November, in a widely anticipated move. The bank will print money in order to buy long-dated bonds to keep long-term interest rates down, making money less expensive. It may also reinvest in $300bn worth of mortgage bonds which are maturing, potentially bringing the total to $900bn.
The Fed has come under pressure by failing to tackle persistently high unemployment: 9.6 percent of the US workforce is out of a job. The economy is stuck at a growth rate that will not significantly create more jobs. The Fed’s chairman, Ben Bernanke, defended the move in an article in the Washington Post. saying that the Fed has a double responsibility towards employment and stable prices.
Critics of the most recent move say it will do nothing to boost jobs growth and will fuel inflation. The dollar remained largely stable against major currencies 4 November, and emerging market stocks were buoyed by the news. The price of oil rose slightly.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal
OECD report says Swiss approach to unemployment generally good, but private agencies weaken public effort in some areas
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s decentralized unemployment system is basically sound and works relatively well, a review by the OECD (Organizastion for Economic Cooperation and Development) published Thursday 21 October shows. But the strength of private employment agencies to some extent undermines public agencies’ efforts, and two groups who suffer are the unskilled and foreign workers, for whom jobless figures are always highest.
“Immigrants could be better integrated on the labour market through more substantial up-skilling measures and efforts in recognizing of foreign diplomas/qualifications,” an OECD press release states.
Two areas where Switzerland could improve, the OECD says, are in helping the long-term unemployed get back to work and in providing better assistance for young people with learning difficulties.
Unemployment and population growth in the Haute Savoie-Ain-Geneva-Vaud region
View of the Vaud-France border from Geneva
France and Lake Geneva region (GenevaLunch) - Although unemployment is growing in the France-Vaud-Geneva region, the most affected areas are the French border departments, says a new study published 5 October by the Cross-border Observatory.
According to the report, unemployment in the France-Vaud-Geneva region jumped from 5.6% to 7.5%; during the same period the rate reached 8.5% in the French region that borders Geneva.
The number of unemployment claims presented by workers whose last job was in Switzerland, in the French departments of Ain and Haute-Savoie, reached 6,000 in 2009; that is twice as many as the number of claims presented in 2008.
Britain is getting back to work, judging by new unemployment rate figures, but they aren’t going back fulltime. Figures just released for June 2010 show the lowest rate of claimants since March 2009, for a rate of 4.5 percent for those claiming benefits and 7.8 percent for the larger jobless rate. The number of employed people has risen to the highest figure since August 2006, with 160,000 new people going to work. But of that number 148,000 are in part-time jobs, a 27 percent increase, the largest one-time increase since records were begun in 1992.
Links to other sites: UK Statistics Office, Reuters
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The rate of unemployment continues to fall in Switzerland and stood at 3.7 percent at the end of June 2010, down from 3.8 percent a month earlier.
The jobless rate, with 144,473 persons out of work, nevertheless rose by 3 percent higher compared to June 2009.
Ireland’s economy is now expected to grow by at least 1 percent this year, following the good news Wednesday 30 June that the country is moving out of recession: after eight quarters of negative GDP growth, the country saw growth of 2.7 percent in the first quarter. Over the past two years Ireland’s GDP has fallen by some 15 percent.
Ireland was the first economy in the eurozone to slip into recession and suffered eight consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. GNP negative growth was even worse, falling by over 17 percent.
The good news was accompanied by bad, however, with the unemployment rate in Ireland rising to 13.4 percent.
Links to other sites: CNN, Irish Times
Figure is still 11.8% higher than year earlier
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The jobless rate in Switzerland slipped under the 4 percent bar in May, to 3.8 percent, but it remained more than 11 percent above the rate at this time a year ago, with 151,074 people out of work.
Bern says that efforts to get people back to work faster have paid off: with the threat of growing unemployment as 2008 drew to a close, the federal government took several steps to help the jobless find work faster and to get more of the long-term unemployed back into the labour force. Six days were trimmed from the average time it took an unemployed person to find work in 2009, down to 145 days. The number of long-term unemployed grew from 12 to over 17 percent of the jobless in just one year, thanks to the weak economy in 2009, but this was three percentage points lower than during a similar difficult period in 2003-2004. The number of people who came to the end of their unemployment benefits in 2009 was 15 percent, lower by 5 percent than in 2004.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss consumers are feeling far more optimistic about the economy than they were in January, the latest quarterly consumer confidence survey shows. The surveys are done every three months by the federal finance department. The April survey shows a 14 point increase in confidence, compared to a 7 point drop in January. Consumers expect to see “a much lower increase in unemployment as well as a stronger positive development of the economy,” the results, published Tuesday 11 May, show.
Tourism up strongly, unemployment down slightly, retail sales slip
Geneva continues to have highest jobless rate
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss economic indicators this week are showing a mixed picture, with several federal statistics published Friday. Overnight stays rose by 5 percent overall and by 6 percent for foreign visitors in March, compared to March 2009, an increase of 153,000 stays for the month.
The good news continues with unemployment, which fell from 4.2 percent in March to 4.0 percent in April, representing 7,462 fewer people on the unemployment office books, but the figure is still 16 percent higher than a year earlier. Geneva and Vaud both saw an improvement, with Neuchatel showing one of the greatest drops, from 7 percent to 6.5, but all three continue to have higher rates than the rest of the country. Geneva’s rate, at 7.2 percent, remains the highest cantonal unemployment rate in Switzerland.
Less positive were figures for retail sales, down 0.9 percent for the month of March compared to February.
The search for work continues - Photo Photopress/Martin Ruetschi
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Unemployment in Switzerland has dropped to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in February 2010. Although the jobless rate has improved since the start of 2010 it is considerably higher than it was a year ago.
The figures were released 8 April by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco).
The current number of persons registered at local unemployment offices across the country totals 166,032: almost 7,000 people less than in February but 31,000 more than during the same period in 2009.
Swiss unemployment stable in fourth quarter, 2010 outlook brighter
More people working in Swiss healthcare
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Lake Geneva region showed the strongest growth in employment in the fourth quarter of 2009, up 1.1 percent. Zurich was the only other area to show growth, 0,9 percent. Overall, Swiss unemployment remained stable, with a slight slip of 0.3 percent compared to the same period in 2008.
Fourth quarter figures for Swiss unemployment published Thursday morning 25 February show with significant differences between industry, where the number of jobless continues to rise, and the services sector, where the jobless rate is falling. The outlook for 2010 appears to be brighter, according to Federal Statistical Office forecasts, with an increase in the number of jobs available. For the first time in five quarters, industry looks set to increase the number of jobs open, after seasonal worker adjustments to the figures.
The number of people actively working rose by 0.3 percent in 2009, thanks to women, whose presence in the workforce increased by 0.8 percent, while the number of men working fell by 0.1 percent.
