2020 Zurich unemployment and job cuts

September 2020 Unemployment News and Company Job Cuts Switzerland

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According to surveys conducted by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO):

148,560 unemployed people were registered with the regional employment centers (RAV) at the end of September 2020.

This was a reduction of 2,551 than in August.

The unemployment rate reduced by by 0.1% from 3.3% in August 2020 to 3.2% for September.

Compared to the same month last year ( September 2019), unemployment has increased by 49,462  (+49.9%).

Unemployment figures for September 2020 for those aged 50 to 64 in Switzerland

The number of registered unemployed 50-64 year old people increased by 41  (+0.1%) to 39,876, an increase of 12,455 people (+45.4%) when September 2020 is compared to September 2019.

Job seekers in September 2020

There are a total of 238,145 registered job seekers, an increase of 930 when compared to August 2020.

The year on year comparison means there has been an increase of 66,722 people (+38.9%).

Notified job vacancies in September 2020

As of July 1, 2018, the job registration requirement for professions with an unemployment rate of at least 8% was introduced throughout Switzerland. Thus was reduced to 5% as of January 1, 2020.

The number of job vacancies registered with the REOs fell by 327 to 34,725 in September. Of the 34,725 jobs, 20,388 jobs were subject to compulsory registration.

Job Cuts Announced By Companies

BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA has decided to discontinue its Commodity transactional financing activities in Geneva. This adds another 120 job cuts on top of those already announced last November. ( PR Contact:  Isabelle Wolff : isabelle.wolff@bnpparibas.com).

GE Grid Solutions, a business unit of General Electric (GE), will cease operations at its Oberentfelden site as part of a previously announced restructuring plan. GE Grid Solutions plans to retain 57 people in Switzerland to cover current Swiss business. They will work in research and development, marketing and service. 

Lufthansa – Swiss employees were told to take a pay cut or face redundancy measures for 15% of the 9,500 employee total because of strict cost reduction measures. 

Kering-owned Swiss watch brands Ulysse Nardin and Girard Perregaux said on Monday they were cutting about 100 jobs, or a quarter of their total workforce, after sales were hit by the coronavirus crisis. Read more here:

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Contained in the October 2020 report issued by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO):

Kurzarbeit / Short-time working in July 2020 Report

In July 2020, 347,638 persons were subject to companies using the short-time working compensation scheme.

This is 140,674 less (-28.8%) than in the previous month.

The number of companies affected fell by 13,334 units (-25.4%) to 39,071, while the number of hours lost to work fell by 7,971,020 (-28.1%) to 20,403,950.

Not reported is the disproportionate impact upon smaller businesses of the scheme`s removal.

The provision of a year on year comparison was not published here because it is fundamentally meaningless. It only served to highlight some companies were already failing and are still subject to a plaster and financial government support.