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By the end of May 2021, the percentage of Switzerland’s workforce registered as out of work had fallen to 3.1%, down from 3.3% in April 2021. © Rafael Ben Ari | Dreamstime.comThe figures are based on those registered as unemployed at regional employment centres and exclude many of those that have been out of for more than two years and have exhausted their rights to collect unemployment benefits. Many measures of unemployment, such as the one recommended by the International Labour...

Last week, negotiations between Switzerland and the EU ended after failure to find agreement on key elements of a deal governing the relationship between Switzerland and the bloc. Over the weekend, Switzerland’s president Guy Parmelin defended the abrupt break in negotiations and sent a clear message to EU strategists in Brussels. Speaking to the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag Parmelin said that the EU would harm itself if it sank trade relations with one of its most important trading...

A recent study by Interpharma and Santésuisse shows how rapidly drug prices have risen in Switzerland over the 10 years to 2020. © Artemiy Sobov | Dreamstime.comBetween 2010 and 2020, medicine prices have risen by nearly 37% in Switzerland. In addition, the cost of basic health insurance has risen at 3 times the rate of GDP over the same period. There are three main reasons for high Swiss drug prices according to the report: too many generic drugs, excessive margins and high factory...

The total number of hours worked in Switzerland in 2020 dropped by nearly 4% compared to 2019, announced the Federal Statistical Office this week. © Thanasak Boonchoong | Dreamstime.comIn a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic total hours worked in Switzerland dropped by nearly 300 million or 3.7% compared to the previous year. In 2019, 7.9 billion hours of work were clocked up in Switzerland. In 2020, this figure fell to 7.6 billion. Unsurprisingly, the biggest falls in hours...

A recent survey of expats presents Switzerland as a double edged sword. The survey, which covers 59 nations, ranks Switzerland near the top on quality of life but near the bottom on cost. © Bartolomiej Pietrzyk | Dreamstime.comIn the ranking by InterNations, Switzerland is listed 30 out of 59 countries overall for its attractiveness to expats. However, its score contains both bright and a dark spots. On quality of life, Switzerland ranked 9th. 99% of those surveyed said they were happy...

Switzerland and the EU have been working at failing to agree on a new agreement on Switzerland’s relationship with the EU for sometime now. One point of negotiating leverage used by Switzerland is that Swiss voters would reject the deal proposed by the EU in a referendum. However, a recent poll suggests that might not be true. © Alexander Filon | Dreamstime.comA recent poll run by gfs.bern found that 64% of a sample of voters were either supportive (15%) or fairly supportive (49%) of the...

Recent data show that Swiss hotels and restaurants shed 40,000 jobs in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with restaurants reliant on business travel hit the hardest, according to RTS. © Jan Gajdosik | Dreamstime.comThese figures do not include the effects of the pandemic beyond the end of 2020 and therefore exclude the impact of the pandemic in 2021. Casimir Platzer, president of GastroSuisse, told newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland, that an additional 10,000 jobs...

Consumer sentiment among Swiss households is improving, according to Switzerland’s economic affairs office (SECO). © Rosaria De Marco | Dreamstime.comIn April 2021, the consumer sentiment index climbed back to -7 points after reaching a low of -40 in early 2020. The level of -7 is close to the pre-crisis level of early 2020 and close to its long term average of -5. The primary reason for the rise in consumer sentiment is a significant improvement in expectations regarding general...

On 6 May 2021, SWISS announced a plan to cut jobs and the size of its fleet. © Boarding1now | Dreamstime.comDue to the continuing global coronavirus pandemic and structural changes in the market, the company expects a 20% structural decline in demand. In response, the airline plans to cut the fleet it had in 2019 by 15% and bring its personnel numbers down by 1,700 – before the pandemic SWISS employed 9,500 people. The company described the cuts as unavoidable. Much of this staff...

Last Wednesday, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced that old Swiss banknotes would no longer be legal tender from Friday, 30 April 2021. The short notice period has generated complaints and confusion. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.comThe eighth series of Swiss banknotes did not lose their value, however, they are no longer an accepted means of exchange. The only places they can still be used are at Swiss Rail and Swiss Post until the end of October 2021. They can however be exchanged at...