Unemployment Rate (registered) (Eurostat) in Switzerland

Switzerland's registered unemployment rate is the share of people signed on as jobless at the regional employment offices (RAV/ORP) as a proportion of the labour force. Published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), it is the country's timeliest and most-watched jobless figure.

A monthly administrative count of jobseekers registered at the RAV/ORP offices, divided by the labour force. SECO releases both the raw (n.s.a.) and the seasonally adjusted figure; it is not drawn from a household survey.

Its path gauges the momentum of the Swiss labour market: a fall points to stronger labour demand and consumption, a rise to economic weakness. It is a key input for Swiss National Bank (SNB) policy and for the franc.

Being an administrative count, it excludes jobless people who do not register at the RAV offices and the underemployed, so it tends to sit below the harmonised (ILO/LFS) rate produced by the statistical office.