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Switzerland's unemployment rate increases in Q1: report

Xinhua, May 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The unemployment rate in Switzerland reached 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, registering a 0.7 percent increase from the same period last year, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported on Thursday.

According to the FSO, however, the number of employed persons in Switzerland rose by 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016.

Switzerland's population grew by 1.1 percent last year to reach 8,325,200 by the end of 2015, with an additional 87,500 people registered on Swiss soil from 2014.

Figures show that close to one quarter of the population residing in Switzerland on a permanent basis is foreign, representing a 2.5 percent rise from two years ago.

As the population increases, so does the country's share of people aged 65 or above. According to the FSO, while 20 percent of the population is below 20 years old, 18 percent falls in this demographic group.

Statistics reveal that one in five women in the confederation is aged 64 years or older, while one in six men falls in this category.

According to the latest figures, the EU's unemployment rate decreased from 10.2 percent in the first three months of 2015 to 9.2 percent in the first quarter of 2016. Enditem