Tag Archives: Business & Economy

Before Christmas, Switzerland’s parliament approved the purchase of a new fleet of fighter jets costing CHF 6 billion, according to RTS. Existing Swiss Air Force F-18 – © Andrew David Periam | Dreamstime.comThe plan, which aims to defend Swiss airspace beyond 2030, has now been approved by both Switzerland’s upper and lower houses. Any contract to supply the aircraft will require a foreign supplier to invest in related industries in Switzerland. Some have described this arrangement as...

© Radomír Režný | Dreamstime.com Imagine borrowing CHF 105,500 but only having to repay CHF 100,000 in 20 years time, including interest. You’d get an interest free loan plus an extra CHF 5,500 to keep. This is what the Swiss federal government will do on 20 December 2019, except it will borrow CHF 196.6 million by issuing zero interest bonds at a price of 105.5%. The government will generate a CHF 10.25 million windfall. In addition, investors interested in this...

Imagine borrowing CHF 105,500 but only having to repay CHF 100,000 in 20 years time, including interest. You’d get an interest free loan plus an extra CHF 5,500 to keep. © Radomír Režný | Dreamstime.comThis is what the Swiss federal government will do on 20 December 2019, except it will borrow CHF 196.6 million by issuing zero interest bonds at a price of 105.5%. The government will generate a CHF 10.25 million windfall. In addition, investors interested in this issue of zero-interest...

© Bigapplestock | Dreamstime.com At 30 September 2019, Switzerland had 79,000 job vacancies and 225,000 unemployed workers. This combination of unemployment and job vacancies can largely be explained by two things. The first is frictional unemployment, the period spent in between jobs. This typically increases when there is a lot of job changing. The second is a skills mismatch. Employers cannot find the skills they need among those seeking work. A recent report by...

At 30 September 2019, Switzerland had 79,000 job vacancies and 225,000 unemployed workers. © Bigapplestock | Dreamstime.comThis combination of unemployment and job vacancies can largely be explained by two things. The first is frictional unemployment, the period spent in between jobs. This typically increases when there is a lot of job changing. The second is a skills mismatch. Employers cannot find the skills they need among those seeking work. A recent report by the human resources...

© Aris Suwanmalee | Dreamstime.com Around one hospital in ten in Switzerland could end up in financial difficultly, according to a report by PWC. In addition, 37 of the 44 hospitals surveyed will not be profitable enough to remain competitive over the next five to ten years, predict the authors of the report. The shift towards more outpatient care instead of more expensive hospitalisation is still a work in progress. Substantial disincentives to make the shift have...

© Joerg Stoeber | Dreamstime.com Unemployment rose in the third quarter of 2019, however, there have never been more jobs in Switzerland. The total number of jobs in Switzerland rose to 5.137 million at 30 September 2019, a level never seen before. The figure was 1.3% higher than at 30 September 2018 and 0.3% higher than 30 June 2019. And the rise wasn’t due to shift towards part time jobs. On a full time equivalent basis (FTE) there were 1.1% more jobs at 30...

Every year, Switzerland sets quotas for the number of work visas it issues to citizens outside the EU and EFTA. This week the government announced it would maintain the quota of 8,500 permits that was in place in 2018. In addition, it confirmed an earlier deal it struck with the UK to issue up to 3,500 work visas to British citizens in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The 8,500 quota is made up of 4,500 B-permits for stays over one year, and 4,000 short-term L-permits for short term...

Around one hospital in ten in Switzerland could end up in financial difficultly, according to a report by PWC. © Aris Suwanmalee | Dreamstime.comIn addition, 37 of the 44 hospitals surveyed will not be profitable enough to remain competitive over the next five to ten years, predict the authors of the report. The shift towards more outpatient care instead of more expensive hospitalisation is still a work in progress. Substantial disincentives to make the shift have not been eliminated...

Unemployment rose in the third quarter of 2019, however, there have never been more jobs in Switzerland. © Joerg Stoeber | Dreamstime.comThe total number of jobs in Switzerland rose to 5.137 million at 30 September 2019, a level never seen before. The figure was 1.3% higher than at 30 September 2018 and 0.3% higher than 30 June 2019. And the rise wasn’t due to shift towards part time jobs. On a full time equivalent basis (FTE) there were 1.1% more jobs at 30 September 2019 than there...