Unemployed After University: RAV Registration, 120 Waiting Days and What You Actually Get

The diploma is here, the job is not. For more and more graduates that is the norm in 2026, not the exception: at the end of August the Federal Statistical Office reported that the unemployment rate of university master's graduates one year after completing their degree has risen from 3.9 to 6.4 percent. Anyone who registers with the RAV in this situation lands in a special regime hardly anyone knows about until they are in it: there is money, but less of it, later and for a shorter time than for people coming out of a job — and the obligations start earlier than most people think. Here is the whole process, with the numbers from the act and the ordinance instead of hearsay.

Why this is hitting so many people right now

The FSO figures of 27 August 2026 describe a break, not a dip: alongside the jump for university master's graduates, the rate for UAS bachelor's graduates rose from 3.4 to 4.9 percent. The share of master's graduates who had trouble finding a suitable position went from 30.0 to 44.1 percent — and 42.5 percent cite the economic situation as an obstacle, compared with 23.8 percent in 2023. The hardest hit are subjects that were considered safe: economics at university from 3.5 to 8.5 percent, engineering sciences from 2.1 to 4.8 percent, humanities and social sciences from 5.1 to 8.5 percent.

On the RAV side the picture is the same: in January 2026, according to SECO, 50,285 people with a tertiary degree were registered as unemployed, 21 percent more than a year earlier — a third of all unemployed people. Career entry straight from university has thus become one of the largest groups at the RAV, and it is precisely for this group that the law has its own rules.

The special rules: who they apply to — and who they don't

Unemployment insurance is insurance against loss of salary. Anyone who never had a salary never paid contributions — normally that would require at least twelve months within the last two years (Art. 13 AVIG). The law exempts you from that if, during those two years, you were not employed for more than twelve months in total because of education and have lived in Switzerland for at least ten years (Art. 14 para. 1 let. a AVIG; the ten years need neither be consecutive nor immediately precede registration). Exempt means: you receive a daily allowance — but under three restrictions, all of which hang on this exemption.

The decisive exception: contribution periods alongside your studies. Every job subject to contributions counts — the working-student job, the paid internship, the part-time side position. If you reach twelve months in the two years before registering, you are not exempt: no 120 waiting days, a daily allowance based on your actual earnings (combined with the pro-rata flat rate, Art. 23 para. 2bis AVIG), and up to 200 daily allowances under 25 without children or 260 above. The SECO directive names working students explicitly as a group without a special waiting period. The same applies to apprenticeship graduates: the apprenticeship in a company is a contribution period, so no 120 days — but for them, too, the insured earnings are the flat rate, halved under 25 without children.

What you actually get — with the calculation

The figure circulating on university websites — "CHF 3,220 a month" — is not your daily allowance. It is the insured earnings from which the daily allowance is only then calculated. The real calculation under Art. 41 AVIV and Art. 22 AVIG:

• Flat rate with a tertiary degree (university, higher vocational education): CHF 153 per day. Per month, which the fund calculates at 21.7 days: CHF 3,320 insured earnings
• Daily allowance = 80 percent of that: CHF 122.40 per day, around CHF 2,656 a month before social deductions. The reduced rate of 70 percent applies to people without children only if the full daily allowance would exceed CHF 140 — so not at CHF 122.40
• Under 25 and without maintenance obligations towards children: the flat rate is halved (Art. 41 para. 2 AVIV) to CHF 76.50 per day; the daily allowance is CHF 61.20, around CHF 1,328 a month
• At most 90 daily allowances: at 21.7 daily allowances per month, around four months of benefits. After that the framework period is not over — only the entitlement

With a UAS or university bachelor's the same tertiary rate of CHF 153 applies; with an upper-secondary qualification (apprenticeship, Matura without a degree) it is CHF 127. And: bring your diploma. The fund sets the flat rate on the basis of the documented qualification — without proof, it calculates lower.

The process: from exam result to first daily allowance

1. Register — immediately, not after the holidays. The law requires registration "as early as possible, but at the latest on the first day" for which you claim a daily allowance (Art. 17 para. 2 AVIG). For graduates that means: as soon as the exam result is in. Registration runs online via Job-Room or in person at the RAV of your municipality of residence, with your AHV number, ID and the applications you have made so far. You may even register before the result — the SECO directive covers this case explicitly; everything that follows below then runs from registration. The reason for the hurry is simple: the 120 waiting days only begin with registration. Every week you wait pushes the first daily allowance back by a week. The general RAV registration checklist applies to you too.

2. The waiting days are not sat out — they are earned. A day counts as a waiting day only if you meet every eligibility requirement on it (Art. 6 para. 6 AVIV): registered, available for placement, counselling appointments attended, efforts documented. The 120 are working days — around five and a half months on the calendar. A month in which you do not submit your efforts does not count, and on top of that you risk benefit suspension days, which shorten your benefits later on once more.

3. Job-search efforts from day one. The obligation does not begin with the first daily allowance but with knowledge of the exam result — or with registration, if that came earlier. The SECO leaflet is clear: you must apply for vacancies "before the onset of your unemployment", if necessary outside your occupation as well. How many, you agree with your counsellor; the canton of Fribourg names two to three applications a week for graduates. The proof is due every month by the 5th of the following month (Art. 26 AVIV) — the form and the rules are the same as for everyone else.

4. Use the waiting period — now also with an internship. Since 1 January 2026, exempt persons may take part in an unemployment-insurance work placement during the special waiting period (Art. 6 para. 1ter AVIV, Art. 64a AVIG). Ask about it actively at your first counselling session: an RAV placement in your field is professional experience with a reference — exactly what graduates lack compared with apprenticeship graduates, and the reason SRF currently describes vocational training as an underrated trump card.

5. After 90 daily allowances. The entitlement is used up, the framework period continues. A fixed-term job or interim earnings within the framework period create contribution periods — and with twelve months, a new, normal framework period with 200 or 260 daily allowances. That is the real reason not to see interim earnings as a step down.

Applying from inside the special regime

Two to three applications a week over five and a half months is 50 to 70 applications before the first daily allowance arrives — in a market where up to 50 percent more applications per ad come in than a year ago. The temptation is to fill the quota with copies. That is the dead end, because the RAV then sees those same applications: counsellors read the proof, and a stack of identical cover letters is the fastest route to a discussion about the "quality of your job-search efforts".

What counts in a graduate's stack is different from what counts for professionals:

• Make the experience you have visible. Semester projects, internships, the master's thesis with an industry partner, the club where you ran the budget — phrased as professional experience, with a result and a number, not as a list of modules. The CV examples by profession show what an entry-level CV looks like in Switzerland
• Apply at 60 percent. Graduates rarely meet every requirement — that is no reason to hold back, but it is a reason to name the gap in the letter instead of hiding it
• Look beside the ad. If the FSO figures say one thing, it is that the jobs are not where the graduates are looking. Spontaneous applications count with the RAV — and at SMEs that never advertise on jobs.ch, the competition is one instead of three hundred

Where preparAItor Fits

The special regime punishes two things: waiting before registering, and volume without quality. Both can be caught with the right tools:

• CV Health Check: the first CV after university has typical weaknesses — modules instead of results, no profile, no numbers. The check shows them before the RAV sees them
• Match Check per ad: for 60-percent applications it shows which 40 percent is missing — and whether the application is a real chance or just a line in the proof
• Complete dossier per job: CV tailored to the ad, letter with company research, email — minutes per application instead of hours, so three applications a week fit alongside the placement or the interim job
• Tracker as proof: the monthly list for the RAV, built from the applications you made anyway

Sources

• Fedlex – Unemployment Insurance Act (AVIG), Art. 13, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 27, 64a
• Fedlex – Unemployment Insurance Ordinance (AVIV), Art. 6, 19, 26, 41
• SECO – AVIG practice ALE (directive to the implementing bodies)
• arbeit.swiss – Registering with the RAV
• SECO – Leaflet on the rights and obligations of insured persons (2026)
• Canton of Fribourg – Unemployed: entitlement after completing education
• UZH Career Services – RAV
• Counselling Centre of the Bern Universities – Unemployment after university
• SRF – Difficult job search for university graduates (FSO survey, 27.08.2026)
• SECO – The labour market situation, January 2026 (table by level of education)
• SECO – The labour market situation, July 2026
• SRF – Vocational training: an underrated trump card on the labour market