Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

Trade union representatives argue employees are entitled to higher wages as the Swiss economy has picked up from the Covid crisis. Keystone/Anthony Anex The Trade Union Federation has called for a blanket salary rise for all employees as the Swiss economy recovers from the Covid-19 crisis. Switzerland’s main trade union umbrella group said employees should be entitled to a salary increase of at least 2% or CHF100 ($109) per month. Trade union president Pierre-Yves...

© Sudok1 | Dreamstime.com The latest figures on Covid-19 patients in intensive care in Swiss hospitals show a steep rise in numbers. On 18 August 2021, there were a reported 163 Covid-19 patients in intensive care wards across Switzerland. This number is far from the peaks of the first and second waves when ICU Covid-19 patient numbers exceeded 500, however the rise over the last month has been steep. On 18 July, there were fewer than 20 ICU Covid-19 patients. By 18...

Firms will have to report on how they impact the climate, and how the climate impacts their bottom line. Keystone / Yaron Kaminsky From 2024, large Swiss firms will be legally bound to report on their climate-related risks. The government has now published guidelines on which companies and which risks will be involved. The rules will apply to public and private companies with over 500 employees, over CHF20 million ($21.9 million) or CHF40 million in annual...

Adding value to cocoa can bring in more revenue for West African producers. Keystone / Legnan Koula In a bid to grab a bigger slice of the chocolate pie, cocoa-producing countries Ivory Coast and Ghana are turning to China for funding and a new marketplace. The move could pose a threat to the Swiss chocolate industry’s profit margins and its supply of raw materials. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, VIPs in smart suits and traditional Ivorian dress gathered at an...

Berset insists that more people need to be vaccinated to defeat the pandemic. Keystone / Peter Schneider Health Minister Alain Berset has urged companies to back the government’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign, arguing it is in the economy’s interest to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Speaking to the SonntagsBlick newspaper on Sunday, Berset said thatExternal link: “Greater commitment from business is needed.” Earlier this week, the government said that...

© Marcos del Mazo | Dreamstime.com Swissmedic, Switzerland’s drug approval agency, extended approval of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for use on 12 to 17 year olds this week. On 9 August 2021, Swissmedic said that it had carefully examined an application from Moderna Switzerland and had decided to extend the temporary authorisation for the use of its Spikevax vaccine on 12 to 17 year olds. The application, which included data on 3,732 vaccinated children aged between...

The number of outstanding mortgages increased by 3% on last year Keystone / Urs Flueeler A report by the leading Swiss bank UBS has found an increased risk of a real estate bubble forming in Switzerland’s housing market. The UBS Swiss real estate bubble index has risen from 1.78 to 1.90 points, in the second quarter of 2021, remaining in the ‘risk zone’, according to a report published on Tuesday. The increase is driven by a rapid rise in prices in the Swiss...

We take a deep dive into what one country – Switzerland – is doing to honour the United Nations principles on business respects human rights. This content was published on August 10, 2021 – 10:00 In this episode Imogen Foulkes is joined by Susan Misicka, host of sister podcast The Swiss Connection. How much child labour is used to produce Swiss chocolate? External Content Why is so much gold refined in Switzerland? And what happens to that gold before it ends up on...

© Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com Recent analysis of data done in the Swiss canton of Vaud found rate of Covid-19 was 83 times higher among the unvaccinated than those who had received two shots of vaccine, reported RTS. During the last two weeks of July 2021, the rate of infection among the vaccinated population was 2.6 per 100,000 compared to 216 per 100,000 among the unvaccinated population, 83 times greater. Vaccinated people were defined as those who had received...

© Swisshippo | Dreamstime.com During July 2021, around 5% to 10% of long-haul passengers, many in transit, were unable to depart from Zurich airport because their Covid-19 documents did not comply with destination country regulations, reported the newspaper Le Temps. In June 2021, around 700 passengers, most of which were in transit, found themselves stuck at Zurich airport. According to a spokesperson at Swissport, a company providing ground services for the...