The Swiss Labour Market Barometer is a monthly leading indicator based on a survey of labour market experts from selected employment centres in 22 cantons.
A trend reversal on the Swiss labour market?
The outlook for the Swiss labour market deteriorated slightly in August compared with the previous months. At 99.9 percentage points, the short-term labour market outlook (seasonally adjusted) fell below the neutral 100 mark for the first time in 2023.
"Looking ahead to the next three months, in August the labour market experts at the RAVs anticipated a slight rise in registered unemployment (seasonally adjusted) and a significantly weaker increase in employment (seasonally adjusted) compared with the previous month," says Oliver Schärli, head of the Labour market/unemployment insurance division at SECO.
While at 100.3, the outlook for employment (seasonally adjusted) is slightly above the neutral mark, registered unemployment (seasonally adjusted) is already slightly below, at 99.4.
Methodology
The Swiss Labour Market Barometer is a monthly leading indicator based on a survey of labour market experts from selected employment centres in 22 cantons. The survey has been conducted since May 2021 by SECO in collaboration with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Germany and the European Labour Market Barometer.
While component A of the barometer signals the development of the seasonally adjusted unemployment figures for the next three months, component B forecasts employment trends. The average of the components ‘unemployment’ and ‘employment’ constitutes the total value of the barometer. This indicator thus provides an outlook on the overall development of the labour market. The scale ranges from 90 (very poor development) to 110 (very good development).
European Labour Market Barometer
The European Labour Market Barometer has been conducted since June 2018 together with the public employment offices in participating countries and the IAB. Currently, 18 countries take part in the survey. These include: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Belgium-DG, Belgium-Flanders, Germany, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium-Wallonia.
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