Employment also grows in the final quarter of 2023
Published: Friday, Feb 23rd 2024, 10:20
Updated At: Friday, Feb 23rd 2024, 10:21
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Employment in Switzerland was positive at the end of 2023. More jobs were created again in the fourth quarter of 2023. Although the outlook remains optimistic, the assessment of future developments was somewhat more cautious.
The number of jobs rose by 1.7% in the quarter under review compared to the same period last year to a total of 5.488 million employees, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Friday. This is the eleventh increase in a row.
Converted into full-time positions, the employment volume reached 4.264 million jobs (+1.7%). This is 70,400 more than a year ago. Seasonally adjusted and compared to the previous quarter, however, the number of employees in companies only increased by 0.4%.
According to the FSO, with the exception of the construction industry, where 0.5% fewer jobs were created, all sectors saw an increase. The strongest increase in the number of jobs was in the health and social services sector. Here, 28,900 new jobs were created (+3.5%). Teachers (+2.9%; +12,100 jobs) and employees in the hospitality industry (+2.6%; +6700 jobs) were also in greater demand.
All regions with plus
In industry and construction (secondary sector), employment rose by 0.7% to 1.130 million jobs. In the service sector (tertiary sector), the number of jobs increased by 1.9% to 4.358 million.
From a regional perspective, employment increased everywhere, most strongly in Central (+2.9%) and Northwestern Switzerland (+2.2%). Only in the construction industry was there a small decline in the two regions of Ticino and Central Switzerland (Ticino: -0.7%; Central Switzerland: -0.2%).
Looking to the future, companies are slightly less optimistic than in the third quarter. The indicator for employment prospects fell by 2.1% year-on-year to a value of 1.05. However, the net outlook is still positive, as a value of over 1 means that the majority of the companies surveyed either want to expand their workforce or keep it the same as before.
Specifically, 12.5 percent of the 18,000 respondents stated that they would rather hire more staff, 4 percent want to reduce their workforce and the rest expect to keep the same number of staff.
Finding skilled workers has become somewhat easier
Meanwhile, the recruitment of specialists has become somewhat easier across all business areas. The corresponding figure fell by 0.7 percentage points to 40%. This means that the companies that indicated difficulties in recruiting in the survey account for 40% of the total number of employees.
The statisticians attribute the decline primarily to industry and construction, where difficulties in finding qualified personnel have decreased, especially in the mechanical engineering sector (-8.2 PP to 68.6%).
Nevertheless, skilled workers are still difficult to find by historical standards, according to the report. According to the data, the problems in finding staff increased the most in public administration (+9.9 PP to 31.3%).
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