Tag Archives: Business & Economy

Switzerland’s gender pay gap narrowed again in 2024. Women earned 15.7% less than men on average, down from 16.2% in 2022, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The unexplained difference narrowed to 6.5%. Photo by Sarah Chai on Pexels.com The trend is longstanding. Across the economy, including both the private and public sectors, the gap stood at 19.0% in 2018 and 18.0% in 2020. The figures are based on gross monthly wages standardised to a full-time workload. Part...

Switzerland’s economy grew by 1.6% in real terms in 2025, compared with 1.5% in 2024. The broadly steady pace of expansion was driven mainly by strong domestic demand, which rose by 2.5%. Investment was particularly buoyant, increasing by 3.5%, reported the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Swiss francs The 2025 figure is slightly below Switzerland’s recent long-run norm. Annual real GDP growth from 2005 to 2024, Switzerland grew by about 2.0% a year on average. The period includes the...

Employment in Switzerland continued to rise in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Most of the new jobs were in services, while the number of vacancies was also higher than a year earlier. Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com At the end of June, companies outside agriculture employed 5.698m people. Of these, 2.388m worked part-time. Women accounted for 68.2% of part-time workers. On a full-time-equivalent basis, employment amounted to 4.435m...

Switzerland and China have concluded negotiations on an upgraded trade agreement that would remove tariffs on almost all Swiss exports to China. Source: X Guy Parmelin, Switzerland’s economy minister, and Wang Wentao, his Chinese counterpart, announced the deal on Thursday. Under the revised agreement, 99.8% of current Swiss exports to China would eventually be exempt from customs duties, the Swiss government said. Bern estimates that Swiss exporters could save around CHF 244m a...

A committee of Switzerland’s Council of States wants to introduce an immigration levy on workers from the European Union if migration rises sharply after the Bilateral Agreements III enter into force, reported RTS. Photo by Daniel Kružík on Pexels.com Andrea Caroni, a member of the Council of States, says the measure could be used only after the Federal Council had successfully invoked the safeguard clause. Someone who had recently immigrated to Switzerland would then have to pay a fee...

With inflation running at just 0.4%, the battle over wages in 2027 may be as much about productivity growth as lost purchasing power. In any case Switzerland’s wage negotiations for 2027 are shaping up to be contentious. Photo by Sergey Sergeev on Pexels.com Travail.Suisse, a trade-union federation, is demanding an across-the-board pay rise of 2%. The Swiss Employers’ Association, by contrast, reckons an average increase of around 1% would be more realistic. The unions’ demand is...

Consumer prices declined in July, underscoring how different Switzerland’s inflation story is from much of the world. Over the month the consumer-price index fell by 0.1% from June, leaving prices just 0.4% higher than a year earlier, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Core inflation, which strips out fresh and seasonal products, energy and fuel, was even weaker, at 0.3% year on year. Photo by Ian Gabaraev on Pexels.com The monthly decline owed much to cheaper travel,...

This week, the Federal Council said it opposes the popular initiative “For a sustainable and future-oriented financial centre in Switzerland” and has also rejected the idea of a counter-proposal. reported SRF. Photo by liza sigareva on Pexels.com The initiative’s backers say it is intended to ensure that the Swiss financial centre no longer contributes to environmental damage and climate change through its activities worldwide. The campaign committee includes representatives of the...

With parliament due to debate Switzerland’s package of agreements with the European Union next month, a committee in the upper house has rejected measures intended to protect wages, reported RTS. One has become particularly contentious: stronger safeguards for workers’ representatives against unfair dismissal. Trade unions now warn that they may oppose the agreements altogether. Photo by Christian Wasserfallen on Pexels.com The economic-affairs committee of the Council of States said...

For 40 years, The Economist has indulged in what it refers to as “burgernomics”: a worldwide comparison of the price of a Big Mac. The McDonald’s Big Mac is remarkably consistent wherever you eat it, so you might expect its price to be consistent too. But it is not—and, according to the publisher, that reveals something about the true value of currencies. Perhaps. Photo by Valeria Boltneva on Pexels.com As usual, Switzerland’s Big Mac is the most expensive, costing US$ 9.04 (CHF 7.30),...