* Adjusted jobless rate at 3.9 pct, highest since Sept 2004
* More jobless seen, despite green shoots, say analysts
ZURICH, Aug 7 (Reuters) - The deep recession drove the Switzerland's unemployment rate to its highest level in nearly 5 years in July and economists expect further job losses as companies adjust to the collapse in export demand.
Unemployment rose to 3.9 percent when adjusted for seasonal swings from 3.8 percent in June, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on Friday.
This was the highest since September 2004 and in line with
economists' expectations in a Reuters survey.
"The economic downturn is increasingly showing on the labour market -- with the usual time lag," said Sarasin analyst Jan Poser, who sees the rate rising to an average of 5.2 percent next year, a level not seen in Switzerland since the mid-1990s.
The unadjusted rate also ticked up to 3.7 percent in July, with the total number of jobless rising to 145,364. At the same time, the number of vacancies fell to 14,370.
The Alpine economy slipped into recession in the middle of last year and the Swiss central bank expects a decline in gross domestic product of up to 3 percent in 2009, which would be the worst fall since 1975.
A string of positive news from the global and the Swiss economy has fuelled hopes of a recovery recently but economists warned that the worst is still to come on the labour market.
"Further job losses are inevitable during the remainder of the year as activity levels continue to contract and firms reduce staff levels in attempts to diminish spare capacity," 4Cast analyst Saara Tuuli said.
The rising unemployment in turn was set to hit consumer spending, so far a pillar of resilience for the Swiss economy which has cushioned the steep slump in exports.
A survey showed on Thursday that consumer mood worsened with the sentiment index hitting its lowest level in 16 years in the third quarter.[ID:nL6161122]
But the survey contained some bright spots. "It was interesting to see that in yesterday's consumer sentiment survey, worries about job security have not increased recently," Credit Suisse analyst Fabian Heller said.
However, recent silver linings for the economy did not provide enough evidence of stabilisation to allow the Swiss National Bank to unwind its ultra-loose monetary policy, which includes currency interventions and bond buys, economists said. (Reporting by Sven Egenter; Editing by Richard Balmforth)