Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

If you are unemployed in Switzerland do you have to accept any job offer?

Being unemployed in Switzerland is not just about drawing benefits. You have some responsibilities to fulfil as well.

Published: 8 February 2024 10:22 CET
If you are unemployed in Switzerland do you have to accept any job offer?
You must actively search for a job. Image by Adrian from Pixabay

Although unemployment rate in Switzerland is very low — currently about 2.2 percent — and there is an acute labour shortage, some people can still lose their jobs for a variety of reasons.

If this happens to you, you are entitled to receive unemployment benefits, provided you have been legally working in Switzerland and contributing to the social insurance scheme — as everyone is obliged to do.

READ ALSO: What unemployment benefits are foreign workers in Switzerland entitled to?

However, if you think you can just sit home until your benefits run out, you are mistaken.

The unemployment office will expect you to actively participate in finding a new job — or accept the one they find for you.

This is what you should know

According to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) service portal, “as part of your duty to minimise the benefits paid out, you are obliged to make every reasonable effort to shorten your unemployment.”

This means that “you have to make targeted efforts to find a new job – if necessary. also outside your former profession.”

To prove that you are not sitting idly but are pro-active in your job search, you have to provide evidence to your local unemployment office each month that you are indeed looking for a job.

You can do this, for instance, by sending them copies of your job applications and any eventual responses you receive from prospective employers.

One rule you must comply with is that “you are obliged to accept a reasonable position of employment when offered.”

Yes, but how do you distinguish a ‘reasonable’ offer from an ‘unreasonable’ one?

You can relax on that score — you will not be forced to take on a job if it:

  • Does not match your usual working conditions
  • Does not take into consideration your skills and your previous line of work (this does not apply to persons under the age of 30)
  • Does not suit your personal circumstances (age, health, family)
  • Requires a daily commute of more than four hours
  • Hinders the reintegration into your own profession, assuming there is a chance of that happening within a reasonable amount of time
  • Provides you with an income which is less than 70 percent of your previous salary.

READ ALSO: How to write the perfect Swiss CV

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

JOBS

Which professions in Switzerland are harder for foreigners to break into?

In many sectors of Switzerland’s economy, Swiss employees prevail over foreign ones — and vice-versa.

Published: 15 May 2024 14:40 CEST
Which professions in Switzerland are harder for foreigners to break into?

In the past, the ‘division of labour’ in Switzerland was clear: foreign nationals held mostly manual (and therefore lower-paid) jobs, while the Swiss worked in managerial / executive and other middle and high positions.

Many sectors still follow these traditional roles, with some jobs held almost exclusively by Swiss citizens, and others by foreign nationals.

Which jobs are mostly held by the Swiss?

To find this out, the Basel-based consultancy firm, Demografik, surveyed professions with more than 10,000 employees.

It found that “about 60 percent of the country’s masons and flooring installers are foreign-born,” Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), reported.

The comparable figure among the country’s unskilled workers as a whole is even higher —  84 percent.

“Swiss nationals also make up only a third of kitchen assistants and cleaning staffers” — jobs typically held by immigrants with no higher education or vocational training.

On the other hand, Swiss citizens hold a number of jobs that are almost unattainable for unskilled foreign nationals, including police officers, teachers, lawyers, senior administrative staff, and social workers.

Only a small percentage of immigrants work in these professions.

However, they dominate fields such as service staff, chauffeurs, unskilled industrial workers, and construction — jobs where very few Swiss can be found.

Why is this?

“The proportion of foreign workers is highest in jobs that are generally considered unappealing – whether because of the low pay, high level of physical demands or irregular working hours,” said Demografik economist Lisa Triolo.

“Nevertheless, these professions are important for the functioning of the economy, because they are difficult to automate.”

Triolo also found that foreigners mainly work in areas where recruiting employees has been difficult.

“The longer the vacancy period in an occupational group, the higher the proportion of foreigners,” she pointed out.  “For example, construction is the sector in which companies take the longest to fill an open position.”

Is this survey objective?

It is, if you focus primarily on unskilled foreign workers, who basically take on jobs that the Swiss don’t want.

The picture is different, however, if you include skilled professionals into the mix.

Many of them hold the same positions, and earn equal or even higher wages, than their Swiss counterparts.

READ ALSO: In which jobs in Switzerland do foreign workers earn more than the Swiss? 

SHOW COMMENTS