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Unemployment Insurance in EU->Switzerland->Unemployment Insurance Funds

Unemployment insurance Funds in Switzerland

In Switzerland you have to choose a unemployment Insurance fund when you register your unemployment either through the eService "Registration for Employment Services (RAV)" or by visiting the regional employment center (RAV).

An Unemployment Insurance fund is the office that, on behalf of SECO, determines your entitlement to unemployment benefits and calculates the amount of your daily allowance and the duration of your entitlement. They also pay unemployment benefits to you. Finally they provide advice and support to you while you are unemployed.

All funds are required to apply federal provisions identically. Only criteria such as reception, friendliness, and speed of processing can differentiate one unemployment fund from another.

You can freely choose which one of the 38 unemployment insurance funds should be responsible for you. You can choose between public (cantonal) funds and private unemployment insurance funds run by an employee or employer organization. You can check here if the funds mentioned below has office in your canton. Three of the private insurance funds (Unia, SYNA and Syndicom) operates countrywide, and you can choose one of them regardless of where you live.

Private Unemployment Insurance Funds

  • SYNA Arbeitslosenkasse - Syna unemployment insurance fund. Syna is present throughout Switzerland and have office in 16 cantons.
    SYNA Unemployment Insurance Fund is open to all unemployed people, and you can choose SYNA Unemployment Insurance Fund regardless of whether you are a member of SYNA Union or not. SYNA Union represent employees from all professions in trade, services, and industry and have approx. 60,000 members.
  • syndicom Arbeitslosenkasse - syndicom unemployment insurance fund. Operate across cantons.
    Syndicom Unemployment Insurance Fund is open to all unemployed people, and you can choose Syndicom Unemployment Insurance Fund regardless of whether you are a member of Syndicom Union or not. Syndicom Union represent employees from logistics, information and communication technology and media sectors.
  • Unia Arbeitslosenkasse - Unia Unemployment Fund. Unia have offices in over 70 locations in Switzerland.
    Unia is open to all unemployed individuals, not just union members or employees in specific sectors. The Unia Unemployment Insurance Fund is the largest in Switzerland, with a market share of 28%.
    Unia Union organizes workers in the construction, trade, industry, and private services sectors (have approx. 175,000 members).
  • Caisse de chômage OCS - OCS unemployment fund. It has an extensive network of agencies in the cantons of Valais and Vaud.
    The OCS unemployment fund is open to all employees, students, businesses, from all professional fields.
  • Caisse de chômage interprofessionelle (FER CCI) - Interprofessional Unemployment Fund. Operates throughout Switzerland. Is for self-employed from all economic sectors, without distinction, from industry, services and crafts.
  • Caisse de chômage du SIT Genève - SIT unemployment fund. Has only office in Geneva.
    The SIT unemployment fund is reserved for members of the SIT union. SIT is a union present only in the canton of Geneva. The SIT brings together workers from all economic sectors and professions (land, construction, cleaning, industry, commerce, services, hospitality, domestic economy, health, social work, civil service, etc.), of all nationalities and statuses.
  • Cassa di disoccupazione Cristiano Sociale OCST - Christian Social Unemployment Fund OCST. Is only present in the Canton of Ticino.

Public Unemployment Insurance Funds

Contact information

Unemployment Insurance Funds

Find contact information of unemployment insurance funds available in your region.

Swiss words

Unemployment Insurance = Assurance chômage, Arbeitslosenversicherung

Unemployment benefit = Arbeitslosenentschädigung

Unemployment Insurance Fund = Caisse de chômage, Arbeitslosenkasse

This page was last updated on May 1, 2025.

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⇒EU social security coordination
⇒Unemployment Insurance in the Nordic countries

Key points of EU Unemployment Insurance coordination

  • Transferring periods of work and insurance between EEA countries As an EU citizen you can transfer acquired rights from Unemployment Insurance when moving between EU/EEA contries. In this way it may be easier to become entitled to unemployment benefit in the country you move to.
    In the vast majority of the Member states the aggregation rule become fully applicable as soon as you starts to work in the country. However in Denmark, Belgium and Finland you must work some period there before you can use the aggregation rule.
    You need a PD U1 document in the country you leave or if the involved countries use electronically exhange (EESSI) there will be issued a SED U002. The countries who issues the highest number of PD U1 documents are Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The countries who receives most PD U1 documents are Lithuania and Italy.
  • Transferring unemployment benefits Under certain conditions you can go to another EU country to look for work and continue to receive your unemployment benefits from the country where you became unemployed. The period you can export your unemployment benefits varies from 3 to 6 months in the different Member states.
    You have to apply for a PD U2 document in the country you leave, or if you haven't done that the institution in the receiving country must request a SED U008 from the competent institution in your last country.
    The countries who issues the highest number of PD U2 documents are Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark. Poland is the country who receives by far most PD U2 documents.
  • Unemployment benefits coverage According to OECD the net replacement of income after 2 months of unemployment, for a single person without children whose previous in-work earnings were 67% of the average wage varies from 33 percent (Ireland) to 91 percent (Belgium). Read more here..
  • Having residence in another EU country than where you work? According to EU social security coordination rules you must only be insured against unemployment in one country at a time. As a generel rule this country is where you work.
    In Member states who have compulsory insurance, you will automatically be covered when you start working there.
    However you may be insured by your country of residence if you are posted to a EU/EEA country or work in two or more EU/EEA countries at a time. In these situations you can not your self decide where to have unemployment Insurance, but you (or your employer) must apply for a PD A1 document which states in which country you are covered by social security, including Unemployment Insurance. Special rule also apply for cross-border workers ("frontier workers").
  • Third-country Nationals working in EU/EEANON-EEA citizens are covered by Unemployment Insurance in the EU countries who have compulsory Unemployment Insurance. In countries with voluntary Unemployment Insurance (Denmark, Sweden and Finland) third-country nationals can become member of an Unemployment Insurance Fund.
    In the most countries Third-country nationals can also use the EU Coordination rules when moving within EU/EEA (however not in Denmark, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
    Third-country nationals in short-tem working relations often faces problems with actually get Unemployment benefits, even though they have contributed to the system. This is due to the fact that one normally need a residence permit which allow one to take any job, and also because of a qualifying period in most countries between 6-12 months.
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