Swiss labor market returns to normal
Published: Tuesday, Jan 23rd 2024, 06:30
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The years of growth on the Swiss labor market are over, according to HR company Rundstedt. In 2023, significantly more restructuring, downsizing projects and redundancies were carried out again.
"After the years 2021 and 2022 were dominated by economic growth after coronavirus, the labor market normalized somewhat in 2023," according to the Rundstedt Labor Market Barometer published on Tuesday.
The outplacement specialist explained that companies were once again increasingly carrying out smaller and larger downsizing or restructuring projects.
Layoffs in the pharmaceutical industry
Companies have also reduced overcapacity. According to Rundstedt, employees in the pharmaceutical sector in particular were again increasingly affected by redundancies. With 30 percent of all redundancies, the pharmaceutical sector led the industry comparison.
"The pharmaceutical industry is feeling the increasing pressure from abroad and is reducing capacities in Switzerland accordingly," the press release stated. In 2022, only 26% of redundancies were in this sector, compared to just 17% in 2021.
By contrast, the redundancy rate in the financial sector is "surprisingly low". At just 15 percent, the sector had fewer redundancies than expected in 2023.
However, as the redimensioning following the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS is not likely to become significantly visible until 2024, this could still change in the coming months.
Management most affected
More redundancies were made at management level in particular. At 37 percent, non-operational functions still accounted for over a third of all redundancies.
Among senior managers, however, the figure rose to 17%, compared to 12% in the previous year. In management, the figure even rose to 34%, compared to 23% in the previous year.
Meanwhile, the cross-industry shortage of skilled workers, which is primarily due to economic factors, has eased somewhat. However, the structural shortage of skilled workers in certain sectors and occupational fields remains "critical".
The Rundstedt Labor Market Barometer 2024 is based on data from a total of 2182 employees affected by redundancy. This is supplemented by data from 223 companies that announced redundancies in 2023.
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