Swiss unemployment fell to 3 percent in May

State Secretariat for the Economy (SECO) figures indicated that the number of people out of work fell by 4,298 to a total of 118,860.

The jobless level among 15-24 year-olds fell from 3.0 percent in April to 2.8 per cent last month, or 15,520 youths.

While the Swiss figures compared well with many other crisis-hit European countries, they were nonetheless higher on an annualised basis, as the overall jobless rate in May 2011 was 2.9 percent.

The numbers were released at the same time as official data which indicated that Swiss consumer prices were static in May on the month, while they declined by 1.0 percent on a 12-month basis.