Unemployment insurance 2025: the CHF 249m loss isn't the whole story
The revised accounts link more registered unemployed people with the removal of federal payments. For insured people that is important context – not automatically a change in benefits.
A loss of CHF 249 million looks at first glance like a clear warning signal. The revised 2025 annual accounts of Switzerland's unemployment insurance do mark a sharp turn compared with the previous year: in 2024 the compensation fund still reported a surplus of CHF 1.43 billion. But the red figure alone does not support the conclusion that the scheme is in crisis.
The accounts describe two developments at once: registered unemployment rose, and federal payments to the unemployment insurance scheme amounting to around CHF 600 million were dropped entirely in 2025. Both factors matter for reading the result – as does the equity capital, which stood at CHF 7.96 billion at the end of 2025.
More registered unemployed people, but no exceptional rate
In the annual average, 133,712 people were registered as unemployed with the scheme in 2025. That corresponds to an unemployment rate of 2.8 percent. A year earlier the figures were 112,563 people and 2.4 percent. The increase is clear, but according to SECO the rate remained at its long-term average.
That matters for interpretation. More registered unemployed people increase the pressure on the scheme and contribute to higher spending. The statistics do not say, however, that every registered person has the same entitlement to benefits. Individual entitlement is subject to statutory conditions, and the level and duration of daily allowances depend among other things on the contribution period and on personal circumstances.
According to SECO, the Swiss labour market in 2025 was shaped by a subdued economic trend. This is relevant above all for jobseekers: it can make the search for a new job harder without automatically amounting to an exceptional labour market crisis.
The end of the federal payment counts too
The compensation fund recorded total income of CHF 8.44 billion in 2025 and total expenditure of CHF 8.69 billion. That produced a loss of CHF 249 million. SECO gives two main reasons: higher unemployment and the cut in federal payments.
The precise wording matters here: for 2025, federal payments to the unemployment insurance scheme of around CHF 600 million were dropped. Over the years 2025 to 2029 these payments will be cut by a total of CHF 1.25 billion under the Federal Act on Measures for Financial and Administrative Relief. The red figure is therefore not merely a consequence of the labour market situation; it also reflects a changed financing arrangement.
For the debate this means: anyone talking about the stability of the scheme must look at benefit cases, contribution revenue and state financing together. An annual set of accounts answers these questions better than a single headline about a deficit.
From estimate to revised accounts
In January 2026, SECO still assumed an expenditure surplus of CHF 0.32 billion. That first announcement was explicitly based on current estimates. The accounts published on 6 October show, after revision, a loss of CHF 249 million. The figures therefore do not contradict each other: the first was an estimate, the second revised annual accounts.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office had already completed the audit at the time of publication. Formal approval of the annual accounts by the Federal Council was still pending at that point. This timing is part of the accuracy: these are revised accounts, not a claim that a political approval procedure has already been concluded.
What can be inferred for insured people – and what cannot
No announced change to daily allowances, entitlement duration or contribution rates follows from the annual result itself. SECO's publication does not announce any such adjustments. For people who become unemployed or are looking for work, what remains decisive is whether they meet the statutory conditions and what support is foreseen in their specific case.
The accounts remain relevant for all insured people nonetheless. Unemployment insurance is meant to cushion loss of income and support the return to the labour market. The equity capital shows that it does not stand without reserves. At the same time the loss makes visible how closely the labour market and financing are linked. For the average Swiss resident, the most important insight therefore lies not in the red annual result but in the question of whether benefit promises, revenue and political financing decisions will fit together over the long term.
Sources
- SECO: Unemployment insurance 2025 – revised annual accounts https://www.seco.admin.ch/de/newnsb/SBV7QlmWEEXe - SECO: The Swiss labour market 2025 https://www.seco.admin.ch/de/newnsb/yFqP7XwYSs3ODBR8ZdR9g - SECO: Insurance benefits of the unemployment insurance scheme https://www.seco.admin.ch/de/versicherungsleistungen
