February 07, 2024 09:54 GMT
Labour Market Loosening Stalls
SWITZERLAND DATA
The Swiss unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.2% in January as expected (seasonally adjusted; vs 2.2% cons and prior), after having slowly drifted higher in the last few months from two-decade lows.
- The SNB said in their December rate decision press statement that they expected unemployment to continue to rise gradually; private sector consensus sees the rate flat at 2.2% in 2024 and '25, however.
- The number of unemployed (SA) rose by 1.7k vs Dec 2023, to 102k, while the number of job vacancies rose 6.7k over the same period to 42k.
- The ratio of the number of unemployed persons to vacancies still stands much higher than a year ago (2.42 vs 1.69 in Jan'23) but declined versus the prior month (2.83), suggesting that the slow but steady loosening of the Swiss job market stalled in January.
MNI, SECO
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