Mr Bernet, how is the Swiss labour market doing?

Stefan Bernet: The number of job vacancies has risen sharply over the past two years and has experienced a slight decline since spring 2019, but remains at a very high level. According to a SECO survey, unemployment has remained constant at 2.1% in recent months. The shortage of skilled workers in the areas of care/health, in the trades and in certain IT sectors has tended to increase.

Is the number of job vacancies a good barometer for assessing how the labour market is doing?

The number of vacancies is one of many indicators for assessing the labour market. It provides some important indications, not only for the labour market. However, the number of vacancies also serves as an economic indicator.

How many jobs do you currently have advertised in Switzerland?

According to the Job Radar, a total of 189,749 jobs were advertised in the third quarter of 2019, with 19,978 jobs for managers. About three-fifths of the total of 189,749 jobs are advertised by employment agencies and two-fifths are found on the websites of companies.

Where is the highest unemployment?

Where unemployment is highest can only be answered geographically. Unemployment in French-speaking Switzerland is at a higher level than in the cantons of German-speaking Switzerland. Currently, the canton of Geneva has the highest unemployment rate at 3.8%, followed by the cantons of Vaud and Neuchâtel.

What are the best success factors against unemployment: education and training, practice and youthfulness?

Career profiles are changing much more rapidly today than in the past, and so are the requirements. Every employee is now called upon to observe the changes and the associated requirements in his or her field and to react to them. Of course, companies are also obliged to support their employees accordingly and to contribute their share to the development. This is somewhat more difficult in SMEs, as the resources for employee development are often not available. Targeted further training is always a proven means for both sides to stay on the ball. Where digitisation has a stronger influence on a particular area, it certainly makes sense for older students to exchange ideas with employees from the Y and Z generations. This promotes mutual understanding within the company, often across hierarchical levels and generations.

Where is a growing shortage of skilled workers becoming apparent?

In my view, there are no signs that the situation will change significantly in the medium term. At present, the shortage of skilled workers is most acute among nursing professionals, followed by electricians, software developers and project managers, as can be seen in the following diagram.

What has led to this shortage of skilled workers in the various sectors?

The shortage of skilled workers usually has its origins in the past and is influenced by a wide variety of factors. It begins in education and school. In recent years and today, the emphasis has been placed much more strongly on academic careers - or to put it another way, too little importance and reputation is attached to crafts, for example. In the craft trades sector, moreover, many skilled workers are lacking due to demographic developments. The attractiveness of jobs is underestimated among the next generation and is presented with fewer prospects. But employers who train apprentices also have to think about whether their requirements, which filter very strongly according to school criteria even in craft trades, are still up to date.

And why is there the greatest shortage of skilled workers in the nursing professions?

The burden in nursing professions is high, working hours are unattractive and salaries are below average. This inevitably leads to many people leaving the profession and too few new skilled workers joining it. This will cost us dearly with the demographic development. Things have gone wrong here.

How can this be remedied?

There is still a lot of potential in making the labour market more flexible. More opportunities for part-time jobs could be offered. If I can't find the 100% specialist, there might be the possibility of filling the position with two 50%-pens. This is also an opportunity for over-60 employees who want to work reduced hours after retirement or beyond retirement. I can very well imagine that many employees would like to have more than one job in the future, but on a part-time basis.

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Stefan Bernet has been CEO and Head of Sales of jobchannel since July 2018. Before joining jobchannel, he was Sales Manager of Docu Media Switzerland for two and a half years and Head of AdFactory at SevenOne Media Switzerland for more than four years. Prior to that, Bernet worked for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung for over 13 years as Head of Advertising Market and Customer Advisor. He began his career in 1988 as Product Manager at Revox Ela, where he worked for over seven years, before moving on to Dr. W.A. Günther. Bernet is a federal marketing planner and digital marketing expert BSW/SIB.

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