Unemployment in Switzerland rose more than expected in June to its highest level in over three years as the deep recession forced more companies to axe jobs. The unadjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent from 3.4 percent in May, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on Wednesday. This was the highest since March 2006.
When adjusted for seasonal swings, the unemployment rate jumped to 3.8 percent from 3.5 percent in May, reaching the highest adjusted rate since August 2005. Both rates were higher than economists' median forecast in a Reuters survey. The Swiss economy slipped into recession in mid-2008 as the slump in global demand hit Swiss exporters hard. The Swiss National Bank forecasts a drop in gross domestic product by up to 3 percent in 2009, the worst decline since 1975.
Indicators such as the KOF growth barometer and the Purchasing Managers' Index have signalled a slowdown of the downturn but also showed that firms keep cutting staff. The total number of unemployed rose by 5,125 on the month to 140,253 in June - also the highest figure since March 2006.
The number of vacancies rose to 14,855 in June, though much of the rise was due to a change in the statistics. The KOF Swiss economic research institute forecasts the unemployment rate to hit a post-war record next year at around 6 percent as Switzerland looks set to recover only slowly from the deepest recession since 1975.