Unemployed Bankers in Zurich Hit a Record

In October, 1,672 bank employees in the canton of Zurich were registered as unemployed, the highest on record and 31.3% more than a year earlier.

The longer view is clearer. In March 2023, the month UBS agreed to take over Credit Suisse, 747 bank employees in the canton were registered as unemployed. Two and a half years later the figure has more than doubled, a rise of about 124%. The line has barely fallen back along the way. August set a record at 1,627, September dipped slightly, and October moved higher again.

In the same month the canton's overall unemployment rate was 2.9%, unchanged from September, with about 25,724 people registered as unemployed. The cantonal government described the rate as stable and said firms were assessing business conditions more positively. The broad labour market did not get worse. One industry did.

These are jobs that disappeared in a bank merger rather than in a downturn. Duplicated roles removed in an integration are taken out once and do not grow back, so this line will not fall on its own when the economy improves. Swiss banking employment is settling at a lower level rather than waiting at a trough.

One caveat. This counts registered jobseekers in a single canton. It is not Swiss banking employment as a whole, and it excludes people who have already moved to another job or left the industry.

Source: Zurich cantonal office for economy and labour, and the canton's October labour market release (Image: @acemaxx)