Press release (17.02.2026):
Wiedereingliederung von erschwert vermittelbaren und älteren Arbeitslosen: Evaluationsberichte zeigen wirksame Ansätze
In May 2019, the Federal Council adopted a package of measures to enhance the potential of the domestic workforce. Two of these measures were implemented in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Public Employment Service (PES) between 2020 and 2026:
- the impulse programme to facilitate the return to work of jobseekers whose reintegration into the employment market is more difficult and older jobseekers (measure 5)
- the supported employment pilot trial (measure 6)
Additional funds were made available to the UI for the two measures in order to provide greater support for older jobseekers and others whose return to the workforce is more difficult. In addition, transition benefits until ordinary retirement age were introduced for persons over the age of 60 who are no longer entitled to unemployment benefits and have not been able to find another job despite great efforts (measure 7).
Information about the Federal Council’s package of measures (in German)
Impulse programme: measures to facilitate the return to work
Pilot trial: Supported employment for jobseekers aged 50 or over (measure 6)
Between 2020 and 2026, 22 cantons implemented 35 projects with the aim of testing new and innovative approaches to improving the reintegration of jobseekers whose return to the workforce is more difficult and of older jobseekers, and introducing these on a long-term basis if successful.
The projects tackled various obstacles to integration in the workforce for the target group and concentrated on seven action areas:
- job coaching
- intensification and further development of advisory services
- strengthening of advisory skills
- further development of labour market measures
- self-paced learning for jobseekers
- promotion of digital skills
- network expansion with employers and/or partners of interinstitutional cooperation
All the projects were evaluated externally and a summary synthesis was prepared on this basis. In particular, the job coaching and the projects to strengthen advisory skills and intensify advisory services on specific topics proved successful approaches. Services with easy and flexible access that jobseekers could seek out independently also proved successful.
The findings from the impulse programme will serve as a basis for further developing the tools of the UI and Public Employment Service for reintegrating jobseekers whose return to work is more difficult. In the majority of projects, the cantons have decided to introduce these into their regulatory structures.
Further information can be found here:
The supported employment pilot promoted lasting re-integration into the labour market for jobseekers aged over 50 who were about to lose their entitlement to unemployment benefit. The approach, which was tested in twelve cantons between 2021 and 2025, follows the principle of ‘first place, then train’. Participants received individual advice and guidance from external supported employment coaches – during the initial search and later in the workplace if they needed it.
By June 2025, over 13,500 people had been invited to take part in the scheme, of whom 12% did so, and more than half of participants found a new job in the process. The individual job coaching in the placement phase proved to be particularly effective. What worked less well, however, was the support phase after participants had started a new role. Little use was made of support in the workplace, training courses, and support offerings for employers – often because participants were reluctant to inform their employers.
The evaluation of the pilot trial shows positive effects on labour market integration on the whole and recommends integrating the effective job coaching in the control structures of unemployment insurance and public employment services in future. The pilot trial ended on 31 December 2025.
You will find further information in the final evaluation report (PDF, 1 MB, 17.12.2025) (in German).