Over 50s continue to lose out in the labor market

In 2019, the figures of the annual von Rundstedt outplacement statistics show, on the one hand, a few corrections of the partly failed results of the previous year. On the other hand, a few new interesting trends are also clearly visible. This Barometer 2020 concerns the whole of Switzerland and is based on information from 1,524 employees affected by a termination and from 192 companies from various industries that had to issue terminations in Switzerland in 2019. It thus provides an interesting picture of the mood on the Swiss labor market as a whole in 2019, which does not coincide in all respects with the mood on the labor market in elsewhere communicated optimism.

40-50 year olds with the greatest risk of termination

Compared to the demographic distribution of employment, the 40-50 age group is by far the most likely to be terminated. While this age group accounts for about only 25% of employees, they account for 42% of terminations. On the other hand, younger workers are terminated much less frequently. Thus, only 27% of the terminations have affected younger workers (under 40), although they account for 44% of the employees in the Swiss labor market. Contrary to frequent assertions, the quit rate for the over-50s, who are treated as a risk group, is in the normal range at 31%. It roughly corresponds to the demographic employment share of 30%. This refutes the assertion that over-50s are discriminated against when it comes to terminations.

Over50s take longer and longer to find a job

Last year, the length of time spent by terminated employees looking for a job increased slightly. This is despite the fact that there were more job vacancies in the Swiss labor market than in previous years and the labor market situation was positive. In 2019, the overall average search duration is now 5.6 months. It should be noted that the search duration for younger workers (U40) has again decreased slightly. It currently stands at around 4.0 months. By contrast, the search duration for older workers has increased sharply. For example, it is 5.8 months for 40-50 year-olds and 7.8 months for over-50s. This illustrates that age is increasingly becoming a disadvantage when looking for a job. However, the search duration depends not only on age, but also on other factors. For example, some over-50s find a new job relatively quickly, while others need all the longer. Von Rundstedt notes that the discrepancy between "easy" profiles (search duration of 3.5 months) and "difficult" profiles (search duration of 11.2 months) remains large. This points to the increasing polarization in the labor market.

Mandatory job notification takes effect - but not for over 50s

In 2019, many more vacancies were advertised publicly than in previous years. One weighty reason is certainly the new job notification requirement introduced in 2017. In addition, however, it has now become much easier for smaller employers to publish jobs at zero cost thanks to digital options and social media. This increasing transparency in the Swiss labor market means that in 2019, the majority of job successes were achieved via public job advertisements, with 41%. In the previous year, this figure was only 24%. Only 33% (previous year 41%) of the jobs were placed via personal contacts on the "hidden labor market". Thus, the hidden labor market is still an important search channel. Once again, the share of jobs found through headhunters or job brokers decreased in 2019, falling from 9% in 2018 to a new 8%. Thus, it can be stated that the job notification requirement makes an important contribution to transparency in the Swiss labor market and is a success in this respect. It should be noted that for over-50s (the original target group of the job notification requirement), the most successful search channel continues to be the hidden labor market. They continue to have difficulty with public advertisements and recruitment procedures and are successful primarily through personal contacts.

Skills shortage leads to more mobility

While the zero gap (i.e., no deviation from the requirement profile when hired, editor's note) has continuously increased in previous years, we saw a strong increase in industry mobility and functional flexibility for the first time in 2019. For example, at 48%, nearly half of job seekers succeeded in changing industries. This is a large increase from the previous year (25%). Functional mobility also increased sharply to 32% (previous year 25%). Thus, almost one-third of job seekers in reorientation found a job with a new function. It appears that the growing shortage of skilled workers is finally having a positive impact on mobility and job search dynamics. This shows that employers and workers are coping better and better with structural change and that flexibility in the Swiss labor market is increasing. This development is confirmed by the fact that many companies are responding to increasing agility by increasing internal mobility.

Source and further information: www.rundstedt.ch