Unemployment rises among higher education graduates
(16.09.2026) The job market is becoming more challenging for graduates of Swiss higher education institutions. Between 2023 and 2025, the unemployment rate (as defined by the ILO) among master’s degree holders rose from 3.9% to 6.4%, and among bachelor's degree holders from 3.4% to 4.9%, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
The situation has also worsened in fields of study that had previously been relatively unaffected. The unemployment rate more than doubled among holders of a master’s degree from a university or institute of technology (UIT) in Technical Sciences (from 2.1% to 4.8%) and Economics (from 3.5% to 8.5%). It also rose in Humanities and Social Sciences, from 5.1% to 8.5%, as well as among holders of a bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences (UAS) in Engineering and IT, from 3.0% to 6.4%. Only graduates of universities of teacher education (UTE) have bucked this trend, with an unemployment rate that remained stable at 0.7%.
The arts and creative fields remain the most affected. The UAS bachelor’s degree in Music, Theatre and other Arts has an unemployment rate of 10.8%, followed by Design at 10.0% and Applied Linguistics at 9.4%. By contrast, Health and Social Work continue to have rates below 2%, as do holders of a university master’s degree in Medicine and Pharmacy, at 1.6%.
Between 2022 and 2024, the proportion of graduates reporting difficulties finding a job that matched their aspirations rose from 30.0% to 44.1% among UIT master’s degree holders, and from 24.2% to 36.9% among UAS bachelor’s degree holders. A lack of professional experience remains the most frequently cited obstacle. The economic climate is also having a greater impact than before: 42.5% of UIT master’s degree holders identify it as an obstacle, compared with 23.8% in 2023. Technical Sciences and Economics are the groups most affected by these growing difficulties.