Employment prospects continue to deteriorate in Switzerland

Keystone-SDA

Listen to the article

Listening the article

Toggle language selector

English (US)

English (British)

Generated with artificial intelligence.

In Switzerland, the outlook for employment has deteriorated further. The corresponding indicator from the Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich economic research centre KOF is only just in positive territory.

This content was published on

August 5, 2025 – 10:42

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

The employment indicator stood at 0.3 points in the third quarter, as the institute announced on Tuesday. In the second quarter of 2025, it was still at 1.0 (revised from 0.6). The indicator has thus reached its lowest level since the beginning of 2021.

According to the economists, a rapid upturn in the labour market is not in sight. Accordingly, the number of jobs in Switzerland is likely to grow only slightly or even decline slightly in the coming months.

The analyses are based on the responses of around 4,400 companies that were surveyed by KOF in July 2025 about their employment plans and expectations.

+ Employment slightly up at end of 2024 in Switzerland

The reasons for the decline are a more cautious assessment of current employment levels and employment prospects. On balance, the assessment of the current employment situation is still slightly positive.

The employment outlook, on the other hand, fell to 0.0 points. This means that the same number of companies now want to reduce the number of employees in the next three months as those that want to increase them.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Switzerland calls for "historic" agreement against plastic pollution

Switzerland calls for ‘historic’ agreement against plastic pollution

This content was published on

Aug 5, 2025

Switzerland urges a global pact to stop plastic pollution at Geneva talks.

Zurich court does not recognise "perpetual hereditary citizenship"

Zurich court rejects ‘perpetual hereditary citizenship’ for Austrian man

This content was published on

Aug 5, 2025

A Zurich court has denied an Austrian automatic Swiss citizenship despite his claims of a hereditary right.

One in three new vehicles had a plug in July

One in three new vehicles in Switzerland are plug-ins

This content was published on

Aug 5, 2025

Plug-in vehicles account for 33% of new car registrations in Switzerland.

Alcon strengthens lens business with billion-euro takeover

Alcon strengthens lens business with major US acquisition

This content was published on

Aug 5, 2025

Geneva-based eye care group Alcon is set to acquire the US company Staar, a specialist in implantable lenses.

Emmi will again increase the price of Gruyère cheese in the US

Emmi to raise price of Gruyère cheese in the US again

This content was published on

Aug 5, 2025

Emmi plans another Gruyère cheese price hike in the US due to tariffs and currency changes.

"With Trump's tariffs, chances of negative SNB rates increase"

Trump’s tariffs raise risk of negative interest rates in Switzerland

This content was published on

Aug 5, 2025

Trump’s tariffs threaten Swiss GDP growth and could push interest rates below zero.

Federal Council continues negotiations with the USA

Swiss government to make more attractive offer in US trade talks

This content was published on

Aug 4, 2025

Swiss government pursues new approach in trade talks with US in hopes of lowering tariff rate.

UN convinced of possible agreement on plastics in Geneva

UN optimistic about reaching agreement on plastics in Geneva

This content was published on

Aug 4, 2025

UN presses for a global plastics treaty in Geneva after more than three years of discussions.

Swatch to journalists: 'stay calm, no hyperventilation'

Swiss multinationals urge calm in response to tariff blow

This content was published on

Aug 4, 2025

Swiss multinationals such as Swatch urge calm over new tariffs.

base jumping

New app to boost safety for base jumpers in Lauterbrunnen

This content was published on

Aug 4, 2025

A new app lets base jumpers in Lauterbrunnen request jump clearance for safer skies.

Employment prospects continue to deteriorate in Switzerland

Tags: