In 2014, the Swiss electorate adopted what is termed the
"mass immigration initiative" (Eidgenössische
Volksinitiative «Gegen Masseneinwanderung»), which aims
to regulate immigration to Switzerland more strictly. Since 1 July
2018, as part of the implementation of the initiative, Swiss
citizens and EU nationals in Switzerland are now given priority
when filling vacancies.
Swiss employers are also required to report all vacancies in job
categories with an unemployment rate of eight percent or more to
the Public Employment Service (PES; öffentlichen
Arbeitsvermittlung, öAV) or regional employment centres (REOs;
regionalen Arbeitsvermittlungszentren, RAV). The vacancies in these
sectors are then offered for five working days to the employees of
the PES and to people registered with the PES as jobseekers before
they can be advertised to the entire market. During this time, the
REOs forward the dossiers of suitable candidates for these jobs to
the PES, which examines
