Swiss companies advertised 8% more job ads in the fourth quarter of 2018 when compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Adecco Group Swiss Job Market Index conducted by the Swiss Job Market Monitor from the University of Zurich.

Almost all job groups saw growth, although to varying degrees, with the upswing on the job advertisement market also continuing to the end of 2018.

The index showed that the number of job advertisements also increased throughout the major Swiss regions compared to the previous year. The greatest gains were made in the Lake Geneva Region with an increase of 18%, while Eastern Switzerland and the Espace Mittelland both saw gains of 14% on a year-on-year comparison.

“Despite reserved positive economic forecasts for 2019, companies were still looking for more staff at the end of the year,” Nicole Burth, CEO of the Adecco Group Switzerland, said. “This enabled the Swiss job market to display extremely positive growth throughout all of 2018.

Burth also commented on 2018’s figures, “The job index’s annual average in 2018 was 6% higher than in 2017. This reflects the strong growth compared to the previous annual averages since 2014.”

Among occupational groups, management and organisational professions saw the biggest increase at 23% when compared to the previous year. IT specialists also saw higher demand in Q4 2018 when compared to the previous year, with an increase of 17%. The number of job advertisements in the teaching and public service professions also rose during the winter quarter with growth of 15%.