I got my first RAV payment recently... it was about 25% of my normal salary. I was expecting 70%. I have been very diligent in my job search, get along great with my RAV counsellor. I haven't received any "salary statement" yet.. but a friend says normally the first 2-3 weeks are not paid by RAV and this could be the reason.

Anyone any ideas?

How much do you earn? Waiting time is upto 25 days. Sounds like you had 10

How do you mean by waiting time?

Will I evnetually get paid the full 70% for this first months unemployment, or simply I "lose" those 3 weeks?

There's a waiting time before RAV payments kick in, the length of which depends on how much you were earning before. For example, if you were on more than 120K a year (roughly), you don't get any RAV payment for the first 25 days of unemployment.

So why don't you ask him?

Ah okay. Balls!.. Wish I had of known that in advance

As previously mentioned, you don't get paid for a certain number of days in the first month. Also, even next month it won't be 70% of your previous gross salary because RAV is still treated like a normal salary, with the usual deductions for the various taxes etc...

That's correct.

That's not. The waiting time on a salary >CHF 120k can be as little as 7 days. Don't ask me what the criteria are (canton of residence? phase of the moon? whim of the RAV advisor?), but it's a fact that some people on high salaries get most of the full month's payment from the RAV in their first month.

EDIT: See below for an update ...

Not any more, it used to be 5 days waiting time for all, it changed on April 1st, it's the same for all cantons.

Wrong. This is only for the first 5 days (Zürich at least).

Five days if you've got dependent children, 25 if you haven't... or at least that's what my advisor told me when he gave me details of salary versus waiting time. It used to be five days for everyone but the law changed in April of this year I think.

Edit: duplicated what fatmanfilms said, sorry.

Aha, you may (probably) be right -- that makes sense, the whole system was revised on 1 April 2011 as a sort of an April Fools joke after a referendum.

I would post a link, however there is a problem with the RAV's website right now.
Waiting time between 0 & 25 days now. Having a 1 CHF lower salary can be worth 5 or even 10 extra days.

The new rules can be downloaded from here:

German
French

Specific paragraphs copy-pasted below in both languages:

C. Wartezeiten
Die allgemeine Wartezeit beträgt weiterhin 5 Tage nach der Anmeldung beim Arbeitsamt. Keine Wartezeit zu bestehen haben Personen mit einem vV bis 36'000 Franken im Jahr sowie Perso-nen mit Unterhaltspflichten gegenüber Kindern unter 25 Jahren mit einem vV bis 60'000 Franken pro Jahr. Für alle übrigen Personen wird die allgemeine Wartezeit aufgrund des vV abgestuft. Sie beträgt neu:
- 10 Tage bei einem vV zwischen 60'001 und 90'000 Franken
- 15 Tage bei einem vV zwischen 90'001 und 125'000 Franken
- 20 Tage bei einem vV über 125'000 Franken


C. Délais d’attente
Le délai d’attente général reste de cinq jours après l’annonce à l’office de l’emploi. En revanche, les personnes dont le gain assuré ne dépasse pas 36 000 francs par année et les personnes ayant des obligations d’entretien envers des enfants âgés de moins de 25 ans et dont le gain assuré n’excède pas 60 000 francs par année sont exemptées du délai d’attente. Pour toutes les autres personnes, le délai d’attente général est calculé en fonction du gain assuré. Il correspond désormais à :
- 10 jours pour un gain assuré compris entre 60 001 et 90 000 francs ;
- 15 jours pour un gain assuré compris entre 90 001 et 125 000 francs ;
- 20 jours pour un gain assuré supérieur à 125 000 francs.

English translation:

C. Waiting times
The waiting period is usually five days from time of registration at the Employment Office. In general, those with insured income not exceeding CHF 36,000 per year and those with obligations to dependent children under the age of 25 years and whose insured income does not exceed CHF 60,000 francs per year are exempt from the waiting period. For all others, the waiting period is usually calculated based on the insured income. It is:
- 10 days for an insured income from CHF 60,001 to CHF 90,000;
- 15 days for an insured income from CHF 90,001 to CHF 125,000;
- 20 days for an insured income over CHF 125,000.

Hi,
While reading the post a question comes into my head:

You go to RAV because you are unemployed and they, in theory, pay you 80% of your last salary but not exceeding 120k. What happens if you have some income from UK or other countries like renting out your property. Will this change any numbers in the calculation.

e.g if you earn 100k and your have 20k in rentals. This makes a total of 120k. Will RAV calculate your benift as 80% of last salary as of 120k or 100k. Will they deduct the 20k from your benifits as you are recieving them anyway in UK bank account from your entitlement.

In short will it hurt to have a UK rental income if you are unemployed in Switzerland.

It will not make a difference in your calculation because they take into account only "insured" salary. Your 20K out of the country is not insured income in Switzerland.

They can deduct money from your payment for work you do. But I don't think they will deduct because of foreign rental income as that is not a salary anyway.

Agreed - I was in exactly this situation, and as miniMia says, the RAV are only interested in your previous Swiss (or EU) salary.

It's earnings , not income that's insured, they could be the same or in this case different.

Just a reminder: max insured salary is 107k per year or so. You get 70% of it and with dependen children 80% of it.