Switzerland / Better to be young when laidoff

What happens to people who lose their job in mass redundancies in Switzerland? According to a Lausanne University study, most people find another position quickly – unless you are in the last phase of your working life.

Switzerland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe – 2.9 per cent on average in 2012. But that does not mean that factory closures and outsourcing do not happen in Switzerland. Around 10,000 employees lost their jobs in mass layoffs last year.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) asked two Lausanne researchers to investigate the career paths of employees who suddenly found themselves out of work. Daniel Oesch and Isabel Baumann questioned 750 former employees of Swiss industries who lost their jobs in mass redundancies in 2010.

Oesch talks to swissinfo.ch about the initial results of the survey.

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via Out of a job: Employees under 55 fare better in mass layoffs – swissinfo.