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<\/p>\nFor more than a year, this brief has told a consistent story about the Swiss labour market: record employment, but a narrowing visible market. Vacancies down from 123’000 to 86’000. Applications per job ad up by as much as 50 per cent. Companies cautious, processes slow, jobseekers above 230’000.<\/p>\n
At the end of August, the Federal Statistical Office published new figures. And for the first time in a long while, they tell a somewhat different story.<\/p>\n
The FSO employment barometer of 27 August paints the picture of the second quarter of 2026. Employment rose by 111’800 jobs, or 2.0 per cent, year on year to 5.698 million employees. Converted into full-time equivalents, the volume grew by 1.9 per cent. Seasonally adjusted, employment was 0.5 per cent above the previous quarter. The services sector recorded the largest increase, up 2.2 per cent within a year.<\/p>\n
The most interesting figure for jobseekers, however, is further back in the data set: reported vacancies have risen to 98’700. For context: at the end of 2025 this figure stood at 86’000, after a three-year decline from a peak of 123’000. The decline we wrote about in July has not just stopped. At least in this quarter, it has reversed.<\/p>\n
And the intentions point in the same direction: 11.3 per cent of the companies surveyed announced plans to increase staff in the short term. Only 3.9 per cent expected to cut jobs. This is consistent with the KOF employment indicator, which rose to 2.1 points for the third quarter: more Swiss companies are planning to hire than to cut.<\/p>\n
Before anyone pops the corks: in this brief we have developed an attitude towards confident headlines, and it applies to good news too.<\/p>\n
One quarter is not a trend. KOF still expects an unemployment rate of around 3.2 per cent for 2026 and economic growth of only around 1 per cent. Geopolitical uncertainty has not gone away. The number of registered jobseekers remains high, and the shift in demand we described in the senior paradox and in the ETH analysis, away from routine office work and towards health, construction, technology and judgement, continues regardless of the economic cycle.<\/p>\n
There is also a measurement caveat: “reported vacancies” and the job ad counts of private providers do not measure exactly the same thing, and individual quarterly values fluctuate. The honest summary is: the downward movement of the visible market has come to a halt, with first signs of a reversal, in an environment that remains demanding.<\/p>\n
But precisely this cautious wording contains important information for people in transition. Because transitions are not navigated in average markets but in turning phases. And turning phases have their own rules.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First: frozen positions thaw first. The typical first step of a company regaining confidence is not a new job ad. It is reactivating the appointment that was “paused” in spring. These reactivations rarely appear publicly. They go to the candidates who were in the process and to those the decision-maker already has in mind. If you were in a process that was frozen in recent months: now is the moment for a short, calm follow-up. Not as a supplicant, but as a professional check on where things stand.<\/p>\n
Second: the early phase of a turnaround rewards visibility disproportionately. When demand picks up before everyone has noticed, the competition for the first new mandates is still the competition of the old, cautious market. The candidates who stayed visible during the lull, whose Right 100 are warm and whose positioning is in place, get called first. Those who only react when the turnaround is in the headlines meet the competition of the turnaround.<\/p>\n
Third: selectivity remains. A market with 98’700 vacancies and a continuing high number of applicants is not a candidates’ market. Companies are hiring more again, but they are hiring precisely. The requirements for clear positioning, proven judgement and a clean transition narrative are not falling. They simply decide more often about actual offers again rather than rejections.<\/p>\n
And fourth, for those who have doubted themselves in recent months: when the market turns, your success rate changes without your value having changed. It is the same logic we described for the 7.3 months, just in the other direction. The market sets the conditions. It does not pass judgement on people.<\/p>\n
The structural story of this brief remains unchanged: in the medium term demographics work in favour of experienced professionals, demand is shifting towards the level of judgement, and the hidden market remains the main channel. What is new is that the cyclical layer on top, which made the last year so sluggish, is showing first signs of easing.<\/p>\n
We will read the figures of the coming quarters with the same sobriety as these. But if you are in the middle of a search this autumn, this week’s practical message is simple: the door you have been pushing against for months may be giving way right now. That would be the worst possible moment to stop pushing.<\/p>\n
At Grass & Partner, we accompany executives and senior managers through career transitions, with a particular focus on making experience visible, relevant and valued. Grass & Partner is a member of the focus50plus network, which is committed to integrating and retaining experienced workers in the Swiss labour market. If you or someone in your network is going through a career change, we are here for you. Contact us at https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/contact\/<\/a><\/p>\n Sources: FSO, employment barometer Q2 2026, published 27 August 2026 (employment 5.698 million, +111’800 or +2.0% year on year; FTE +1.9%; seasonally adjusted +0.5% on the previous quarter; reported vacancies 98’700; employment outlook: 11.3% increase vs. 3.9% decrease); KOF, employment indicator Q3 2026 (2.1 points) and economic forecast 2026 (unemployment rate ~3.2%, growth ~1%); FSO\/SRF, five-year review (vacancies 123’000 \u2192 86’000 by end of 2025); SECO, “Die Lage auf dem Arbeitsmarkt”, 2026; Grass Brief archive: 300’000 new jobs, senior paradox, first inning, 7.3 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For more than a year, this brief has told a consistent story about the Swiss labour market: record employment, but a narrowing visible market. Vacancies down from 123’000 to 86’000. Applications per job ad up by as much as 50 per cent. Companies cautious, processes slow, jobseekers above 230’000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monday-brief"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grassgroup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}