Swiss October unemployment came in as expected at 2.1% (seasonally adjusted, 2.1% consensus, 2.1% prior).

• The unemployment rate has slowly drifted higher from the two-decade low 1.9% posted from Dec 2022 through Apr 2023, but remains well below the 2019 (pre-pandemic) 2.3% average.
• The number of unemployed rose by just under 4k vs Oct 2022, to 93.5k; the number of vacancies fell 17k over the same period to 45.9k.
• The Swiss labour market is set to continue softening in the coming months. Yesterday, the Q4 KOF Employment Indicator indicated that businesses are planning less net hiring than before.
• But job growth is still positive, and labour market loosening is set to be only very gradual, with the 2024 end-year Bloomberg consensus median for the unemployment rate at 2.3%.