Tag Archives: 3) Swiss Markets and News

© Kasto80 | Dreamstime.com Around three years ago, the Swiss canton of Jura introduced a minimum wage of CHF 20 an hour (US$ 21.65). Now there is political pressure relook at the move, according to RTS. A group of cantonal parliamentarians from the PDC (CVP) is pushing for a review of the situation in response to pressure from some young people. The group says that the CHF 20 floor on hourly wages is having a negative effect on the employment prospects of some job...

Restaurant terraces will be able to reopen, with hygiene measures. Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott The Swiss government has decided to allow outdoor tables in restaurants and bars again as of next Monday, following a four-month temporary closure. As part of its anti-Covid strategy, cultural and sports events will be open to the public under certain conditions, a government statement said. The number of spectators will be limited to 100 outdoors and 50 indoors and...

Switzerland has signed a number of deals with the UK as part of its “Mind the Gap” strategy to maintain bilateral relations as much as possible in the wake of Brexit. (Swiss Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter and the UK’s Brexit Minister Stephen Barclay seen here in 2019) Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved The Swiss government has approved an agreement with Britain on mutual recognition of companies with “AEO” customs security approval,...

Bars and restaurants in Switzerland have been closed since Christmas and there are growing calls to allow outdoor dining. Keystone/Martial Trezzini Pressure is building on the Swiss government to ease restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises on Monday called for a review of the current situation, saying the government was focusing too much on health while failing to consider the economic...

Senso consists of a screen and a floor panel that measures steps, weight displacement and balance as users attempt to complete a sequence of movements shown on the screen. Dividat AG Elderly participants who trained regularly on a fitness device developed by a Swiss company showed improvements in cognitive skills, such as attention, concentration, memory and orientation. The study, carried out by an international team in two Belgian care homes, relied on a fitness...

Lonza said it was recruiting from the Swiss labour market as well as from countries such as Germany, France, northern Italy and the United Kingdom. Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle The Swiss pharmaceutical company is recruiting workers to join its new plant in southern Switzerland, where three production lines have been set up to manufacture an active ingredient of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. So far the firm has hired 650 new staff to work at its Visp site in canton...

© Deaconsdocs | Dreamstime.com In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the Swiss economy. GDP fell by 2.9% compared to 2019. However, despite the fall in economic output the number of bankruptcies fell by 6.7% compared to 2019. In addition to a fall in the number of bankruptcies, the sum lost from closed bankruptcies fell 27%, after adjusting for the CHF 6.5 billion lost from the collapse of the Erb empire, Switzerland’s second largest bankruptcy after Swissair. Rolf Erb,...

Switzerland has remained an attractive destination for foreign firms © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer Switzerland has remained an attractive location for foreign firms, creating more jobs last year than in 2019 – despite the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Swiss public television SRF and RTS have reported. Foreign firms accounted for 11% more jobs in 2020, bringing the total to almost 1,200, even if the total number of companies moving to the country dropped...

© Marekusz | Dreamstime.com According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Switzerland has economically navigated the Covid-19 pandemic well so far. In 2020, the Swiss economy shrank by 2.9%, far less than many other advanced European economies. France (-8.2%), Germany (-4.9%), Italy (-8.9%) and the UK (-9.9%) all performed far worse. According to the IMF, the impact of the pandemic in Switzerland was cushioned by solid public and household finances, competitive...

© Hideko1979 | Dreamstime.com The French region of Bourgogne-Franche Comté has contacted several Swiss cantons and asked them if they would take Covid patients, according to RTS. Jacques Gerber, the minister of health in the canton of Jura told RTS that there had been a request from France to prepare in case French hospitals become overloaded. New cases have only been rising moderately in Switzerland since mid March. In France the number has risen steeply, reaching...