Unemployment in Switzerland at 4.5% 

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Swiss state Secretary of economics said on Monday that unemployment in Switzerland hit 4.5 percent until the end of January 2010, the highest since March 1998.

According to a press release of the State secretary published today, unemployment under the youth between 15 and 24 years old about 5.4 percent to be increased by percent per cent in one month, while the unemployment among foreigners is 8.9 percent.

The high unemployment is due to the effect of the financial and economical world crises on Switzerland, the lowest rate of unemployment in Switzerland was about 2.5 percent till the first half of 2008, then started to slip rapidly.

Some analyses expected unemployment in the country could be 5 percent this year, which reflects the direct impact on the Swiss exports, which slumped by 12.6 percent to USD 170 billion in 2009. This is the sharpest decline since 1944. The metal industry saw the steepest decline. Iron and steel in particular saw a drop in turnover of more than 50 percent, while aluminum sales also fell by a third. Shipments from the machine and electronic, clocks and watches, textile and plastics industries and precision instruments fell by between seven and 23 percent