Number of people in employment rises by 1.4 percent in the first quarter
Published: Thursday, May 16th 2024, 09:10
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The Swiss labor market continues to develop strongly. The number of people in employment rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 5.309 million in the first quarter of 2024.
The number of employed men (+0.9%) increased less than the number of employed women (+2.0%) compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to the Swiss Labor Force Survey (SLFS) published by the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday.
In full-time equivalents, the increase was 1.3 percent. At 0.2%, the increase for men was significantly lower than the 2.0% for women. Seasonally adjusted, the increase compared to the fourth quarter was 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.
The number of Swiss workers increased by 0.4% year-on-year. In contrast, the increase in foreign workers was significantly higher at 3.4%. The increase was particularly strong among short-term residents (+7.0%), persons with a residence permit (+6.3%) and cross-border commuters (+4.0%). The increase for persons with a permanent residence permit was only 1.0%.
The unemployment rate stagnated at 4.3% in the first quarter. According to the definition of the International Labor Organization (ILO), 216,000 people were unemployed, the same number as in the first quarter of 2023.
Seasonally adjusted, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 4.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
The ILO unemployment rate is significantly higher than the unemployment rate as defined by Seco, which only counts people registered as unemployed.
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