Compulsory registration of job vacancies starting 1 January 2020

Effective on 1 January 2020, the threshold for occupations subject to mandatory registration of job vacancies will be lowered to an unemployment rate in the respective occupation of 5% from previously 8%. Companies registered in the Canton of Basel-Stadt hence are required by law to register job openings with a public Regional Employment Agency (part of the Federal government, in German: “Regionale Arbeitsvermittlungszentren”, or RAV), provided the job vacancy is in an occupational field where the national, occupation-specific unemployment rate is above 5%. At the same time, a new and more detailed classification standard and nomenclature of occupations takes effect. The new standard makes registration even easier and allows companies to better and more efficiently match open jobs with employees.

List of occupations subject to compulsory job vacancy registration

The list of occupations subject to mandatory registration of open positions contains the individual occupations that will need to publicly register open positions from 1 January to 31 December 2020. The Federal Office for Statistics (FOS), in cooperation with State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) and Switzerland’s industry and trade associations has decided to lower the threshold for occupations subject to mandatory registration of job vacancies effective on 1 January 2020. Meanwhile, the Swiss Standard Classification of Occupations 2000 (SSCO 2000) has been fundamentally revised accordingly as well. The newly established Swiss Standard Classification of Occupations CH-ISCO-19 serves as the basis for the determination of occupations subject to compulsory job vacancy registration.

arbeit.swiss: A platform for information about compulsory job registration and current vacancies

Processing these registered job vacancies is handled by public regional employment agencies (part of the Federal government, in German: “Regionale Arbeitsvermittlungszentren”, or RAV). In order to guarantee equal access to all job seekers permitted to work in Switzerland, Federal authorities have set up the website arbeit.swiss. Launched in 2018, arbeit.swiss is a platform featuring a job room, listing registered openings along with the most up-to-date regulatory information about compulsory job vacancies registration.

The legal background: On 8 December 2017, the Federal Council took the decision on how to implement the “Act Implementing the Constitutional Article on Managing Immigration” (Art. 121a of the Federal Constitution) at ordinance level. This followed the adoption of the revised “Act on Foreign Persons and Integration” (in German: Ausländer- und Integrationsgesetz, AIG) by the Swiss parliament on 16 December 2016. The newly established AIG Article 21a serves to determine the principles for the implementation of Article 121a of the constitution – which culminate in the compulsory registration of job vacancies.

The new Swiss Standard Classification of Occupations CH-ISCO-19

In order to streamline the registration process and to make it even more efficient, the Federal Office for Statistics (FOS) has recently updated and modernized the standards for the classification of occupations. In close cooperation with the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) and in coordination with Switzerland’s employers’ and industries’ associations, the FOS established the new Swiss Standard Classification of Occupations CH-ISCO-19. CH-ISCO-19 adapts the first four levels of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) from the European International Labour Organization (ILO), while adding an additional fifth level to account for the particularities and specialties of the Swiss labour market. ISCO has the advantage of highly detailed documentation provided by the International Labour Organization (ILO). ISCO also includes an international standard of professional qualifications which allows for comparisons between nations and economies.