Unemployment insurance: loss of 249 million in 2025

Context

TL;DR

• AD posts a loss of 249 million francs in 2025
• Average unemployment rises to 2,8%
• Expenditure at 8,69 billion, revenue at 8,44
• Net equity falls to 7,96 billion

Key facts

• 2025 result → loss of 249 million francs
• Average unemployed → 133'712
• Average rate → 2,8%
• Expenditure → 8,69 billion francs
• Revenue → 8,44 billion francs
• Federal benefits cancelled → approximately 0,60 billion francs
• Net equity → 7,96 billion francs
• Formal approval of the accounts → still pending

AD's 2025 accounts

BERN - Unemployment insurance (AD) closed its 2025 accounts with a loss of 249 million francs. SECO announced the result together with the average unemployment rate, which rose to 2,8%.

Expenditure amounted to 8,69 billion francs, while revenue reached 8,44 billion. The comparison with the previous year is stark: in 2024, AD had recorded a surplus of 1,43 billion.

This shift from a positive result to a loss captures the change in the annual accounts between the two financial years. Expenditure in 2025 therefore exceeded revenue, as the figures released indicate.

More people without work

The average number of unemployed people rose from 112'563 in 2024 to 133'712 in 2025. The unemployment rate increased by 0,4 percentage points, reaching 2,8%.

SECO defines this figure as being in line with the long-term average. The two elements are presented together: the average number of people without work and the average rate recorded during the year.

The result was particularly affected by the cancellation of the Confederation's benefits to AD, amounting to approximately 0,60 billion francs. The measure is part of a package of financial and administrative relief measures. The source therefore links the loss both to the trend in unemployment and to the cancellation of federal benefits.

Following the loss, the net equity of the AD compensation fund fell to 7,96 billion francs at the end of 2025. The Swiss Federal Audit Office has completed the audit, but formal approval of the annual accounts by the Federal Council is still pending.

For the reader, distinguishing between the annual accounts, the unemployment indicator and the fund's capital makes it possible to follow the three reported figures separately. Anyone looking for a new job can read this alongside annunci di lavoro.

Operational details

The comparison that emerges from the figures

The shift from a surplus to a loss is the first element to observe, but it does not exhaust the reading of the accounts. The published data set out three different aspects side by side: how many people are unemployed on average, how much flows into and out of the AD, and what net equity remains at the end of 2025. Keeping them separate avoids treating a labor-market statistic and a balance-sheet item as equivalent.

2024 and 2025 compared

The table shows the change in direction of the result and the increase in the average number of unemployed. However, these are not the same type of measure: the first figure concerns the AD's accounts, while the second describes the average number of people unemployed during the year.

The 2025 average rate, at 2,8%, is stated by SECO to have risen by 0,4 percentage points and to be in line with the long-term average. This wording offers two ways of reading it: on the one hand, it records an increase compared with the previous year; on the other, it places the figure in the historical perspective invoked by SECO itself.

Flows, equity and federal benefits

Outflows of 8,69 billion and inflows of 8,44 billion are flows in the 2025 accounts. The cancellation of approximately 0,60 billion in federal benefits is instead indicated as a factor that weighed on the result, as part of a package of financial and administrative relief measures.

The net equity of 7,96 billion ultimately captures the fund's position at the end of the year. It is therefore a figure to be read separately from the annual result. To organize a personal comparison of income, calcolatore stipendio remains a tool distinct from the AD's accounts and the average data reported by SECO.

Recommended tools

For an updated estimate, use the net salary calculator and the CHF-EUR exchange comparator.

Key points

Four steps for consulting the data

To turn the press release into a clear reading sheet, it is advisable to proceed step by step and keep the figures separate.

1. Start with the scope: note that these are the 2025 accounts of unemployment insurance and that the result was announced by SECO.

2. Separate the flows: record on two lines the expenditures, amounting to 8,69 billion francs, and the revenues, amounting to 8,44 billion. The reported result is a loss of 249 million.

3. Add the labor-market indicators: enter the average number of unemployed, 133'712, and the average rate of 2,8%, up by 0,4 percentage points.

4. Finish with the fund's position: add net equity of 7,96 billion at the end of 2025, then note that the audit by the Swiss Federal Audit Office is complete, while formal approval of the accounts by the Federal Council is pending.

The final check

The final check consists of not mixing the year's result with the fund's balance. The loss of 249 million concerns the 2025 accounts; the 7,96 billion concerns net equity at the end of the same year. The 2,8% rate and the average 133'712 unemployed people are also indicators distinct from the accounting items.

This structure makes it possible to update one's sheet when new data become available, without confusing revenues, expenditures, average unemployment and capital. To complement the reading of personal income, the guide to busta paga svizzera is also available, separate from the unemployment insurance figures.

To move from the general data to your own situation, use calcolatore stipendio.

Source: tio.ch