Unequal Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Young VET Diploma Holders

Cohort and Occupational Differences in Unemployment in Switzerland

Authors

  • Miriam Hänni Eidgenössische Hochschule für Berufsbildung
  • Irene Kriesi Eidgenössische Hochschule für Berufsbildung
  • David Glauser Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26034/cm.sjs.2026.8847

Keywords:

Covid-19-pandemic, economic crisis, labour market entry, vocational education and training, cohort and period effects

Abstract

We analyse how the Covid-19 pandemic affected unemployment of young VET diploma holders in Switzerland. Our results indicate that whereas unemployment increased among all young workers during the pandemic (period effect), the cohort completing its training in 2020 was most affected (cohort effect). We also find substantial variation across training occupations. VET diploma holders who trained in occupations that were economically heavily affected by the pandemic experienced higher unemployment risks than those in less affected occupations.

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Article

Issue

Online First

Section

Special Issue: SHP

Number

Language

English

Published

2026-09-14

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Miriam Hänni, Irene Kriesi, David Glauser
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.