Swiss unemployment eases in July versus June

Switzerland’s unemployment rate eased in July from June, but figures are still up 53% year-on-year, according to the data released on Monday.

The jobless rate steadied from June at a non-seasonally adjusted 3.2%, with 148,870 people recorded as unemployed, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said.

SECO also reported on the shorter working hours scheme that the government pushed in order to lessen the unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In May, 890,890 people worked shorter hours, which is 17% less from April. Meanwhile, almost 110,000 companies were adhering to the measure, down 16% from April. 

Finance Minister Ueli Maurer said last month that the Swiss government overestimated the amount of short-time work that employers would use to dampen the impact of weak demand.