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Senior unemployment in Switzerland: a central issue for 2026 union negotiations

SECO reports a historically low official unemployment rate in Switzerland, but unions denounce a darker reality for older workers, who allegedly disappear from the statistics once their entitlement to benefits runs out.

Senior unemployment in Switzerland: a central issue for 2026 union negotiations

Official figures conceal part of the reality for Swiss workers over 50.

The issue of unemployment among people over 50 will in fact be one of USS’s central themes this year. According to union economist Daniel Lampart, “these older workers disappear from SECO’s statistics”. For Boris Zürcher of SECO, “the reality of the labour market is a broad and complex issue” and the unemployment statistic “must not obscure the other indicators”.