After years of staff shortages: Waves of layoffs now threaten the Swiss labor market again

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There is a shortage of skilled workers here, a shortage of personnel there; Swiss employers have been complaining about problems in hiring since the end of the corona pandemic. This is over now. “The labor market is normalizing,” says Pascal Scheiwiller (50), CEO of job placement company Rundstedt, which helps employees look for work after being laid off.

“The cross-sector economic shortage of skilled workers has diminished,” explains Scheiwiller. After the Corona year 2020, the economy grew rapidly in 2021 and 2022 due to compensatory effects. Economic growth has now cooled. “There were significantly more restructuring and downsizing projects in 2023,” concludes von Rundstedt in the labor market barometer, which is based on more than 2,000 layoffs in more than 200 companies and is, to his knowledge, representative of the Swiss labor market.

In front of the pharmaceutical industry and banks

The pharmaceutical industry is taking the heaviest blow. Last year, one in every three layoffs occurred in this region. The background of this is, among other things, large-scale layoffs at Novartis. Although this discount was announced in 2022, it is only now reflected in the figures. It takes months from the time the reduction is announced, with consultation procedures and notice periods, for people to actually enter the labor market.

Accordingly, the latest figures do not yet include many reports of layoffs in Swiss industrial companies. Neither does the merger of Credit Suisse and UBS; Most related terminations won’t be announced until 2024.

Age guillotine is back

The slowdown in the labor market will continue in 2024. Those who suffer the most are older workers. Last year, 80 percent of layoffs affected employees over the age of 40. And: as age increases, the time it takes to search for a job also gets longer. On average, people under 30 spend 3.1 months looking for a new job. For people over 50, this period is 6.6 months.

Scheiwiller concludes: “The labor market is returning to old patterns.” For a while, employers wanted to hire older workers due to staff shortages, and the age guillotine shifted upward. “It is now becoming clear that there was no real understanding of the value of these employees behind this; it was simply born out of necessity.”

The cult of industry is returning, as is discrimination against older people; Anyone who wants to reorient themselves and change industries is in bad hands.

The cost of artificial intelligence to CV businesses

According to the assessment, employees in management and support functions are most affected by the reductions. “Digital transformation and artificial intelligence are at work here,” explains Scheiwiller. Typical business, back office and administrative positions will be cut.

But we need not fear widespread unemployment: According to the State Undersecretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), unemployment stands at 2 percent and is therefore at a record low. Nothing fundamental will change. Because the structural part of the qualified personnel shortage continues. It is not due to economic growth, it is a result of the aging of society. But not everyone benefits from this anymore; only certain, particularly sought-after job profiles, such as engineers or nurses, benefit.

Source :Blick