The labour market tightened a little in February. Seasonally adjusted joblessness fell a further 476 or 0.5 percent on the month to 86,904, small enough to leave the unemployment rate unchanged at 1.9 percent. This was in line with the market consensus and 0.4 percentage points short of its reading just before the arrival of Covid. Unadjusted, the number of people out of work dropped 2,324 or 2.3 percent to 98,452, trimming the rate a tick to 2.1 percent. That said, this was still 0.5 percentage points short of its level a year ago, matching the gap seen in January.

However, seasonally adjusted vacancies fell sharply again, this time down 2,115 or 3.7 percent on the month to 54,773. This equated with an unadjusted yearly decline of 18.3 percent following an 11.3 percent fall previously.

Today's update puts the Swiss ECDI at 18 and the ECDI-P at minus 5. This shows that recent upside surprises in the data have been concentrated in the inflation measures and so maintains pressure on the SNB to tighten further later this month.

The adjusted rate is expected to be unchanged at 1.9 percent.

The unemployment rate measures the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labour force. Both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted monthly data are provided.

Like the employment data, unemployment data help to gauge the current state as well as the future direction of the economy. Employment data are categorized by sectors. This sector data can go a long way in helping investors determine in which economic sectors they intend to invest.

By tracking the jobs data, investors can sense the degree of tightness in the job market. If employment is tight it is a good bet that interest rates will rise and bond and stock prices will fall. In contrast, when job growth is slow or negative, then interest rates are likely to decline - boosting up bond and stock prices in the process.