Tag Archives: Business & Economy

A recent study by Geneva’s department of economic development (DDE) looks at the shopping habits of its residents and the residents of neighbouring Vaud and neighbouring France – an area including Nyon and parts of the French Ain and Haute Savoie regions. © Viorel Dudau | Dreamstime.com Every year, the residents of this greater Geneva region spend around CHF 7.2 billion francs on consumable items in physical stores. This money is spread across personal goods (19%), garden and DIY goods (6%),...

In 2018, 68.5% of the nation’s residents aged 15 or older was working, 1.5% more than in 2010. © Arturoosorno | Dreamstime.com This rise was largely driven by an increase in the percentage of women in the workforce. In 2010, 60.0% were working. By 2018, 62.9% were, a rise of 2.9%. On the other hand, the overall percentage of men working declined slightly (-0.1%) to reach 74.2% by 2018. Swiss versus foreignersOverall, foreigners were much more likely than Swiss to be working. In 2018, 76% of...

This week, Greenpeace activists protested against single-use plastic in front of Nestlé’s headquarters in Vevey, according to the newspaper Le Matin. [embedded content] One group of protesters carrying a plastic monster made from plastic waste that has been touring Europe after arriving in Rotterdam from the Philippines, demanded that Nestlé take back its plastic monster. Take back your monster #nestle pic.twitter.com/Obt6hpJPeX — Elsy (@elsy_n) April 19, 2019 Others carried large bags of...

This week, Swisscom became the first Swiss mobile phone company to switch on its 5G network, according to a press release. © Mykhailo Polenok | Dreamstime.com Swisscom spokesperson, Esther Hüsler, said that at midnight on Wednesday Swisscom flipped the switch to become the first Swiss operator to put its 5G network into service. It’s 5G network went live across 102 locations across the country, including most of Switzerland’s cities. The announcement comes a week after the parliament of the...

Switzerland is often assumed to have low unemployment. However, there are many countries in Europe with lower rates. © Miklmakmagnitka | Dreamstime.com There are several ways to measure unemployment. The official measure in Switzerland is focused on those officially registered as unemployed still collecting unemployment benefits, a measure that delivers a lower figure than the one calculated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which includes all those looking for work...

Testing commissioned by Blue Cross, a Swiss organisation focused on helping those with addictions, found toxic substances in the Iqos electronic cigarette produced by Philip Morris, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. © Ilona Tymchenko _ Dreamstime.com Toxic isocyanates were released when the polymer filter in the device was heated to 100 degrees, a temperature significantly lower than the maximum of 350 degrees listed in the product’s specifications. Isocyanates, found in solvants,...

Switzerland’s government recently voted for a ceiling on the salaries of those managing public companies such as Swisscom, Swiss Post, Skyguide and Swiss Rail. Andreas Meyer_© CFF_SBB_FFS In response, the board of Swiss Rail wrote to the Federal Council requesting it to soften its position. From 2020, the company wants to pay its nine senior managers CHF 5.89 million, including a salary of more than CHF 1 million to Andreas Meyer, the boss of the company. The letter said there was a risk...

In 2018, Swiss Rail made a profit of CHF 568 million, 42.5% more than in 2017. Part of the rise was due to higher than average spending on maintenance in 2017. © Erix2005 | Dreamstime.com It is worth noting that Swiss Rail receives a large sum from taxpayers every year. In 2018, the company received CHF 3.5 billion of public funding, CHF 2.7 billion of it booked as income. Without this large lump of taxpayer help Swiss Rail would have made a loss of CHF 2.2 billion in 2018. One way the...

Over the first three months of 2018 Swiss authorities made 80 requests for Facebook user data, however two thirds of them were ignored, according to the newspaper SonntagsBlick as reported in 20 Minutes. © Klevo _ Dreamstime.com When the requests were urgent the response rate rose to two thirds of requests. Reto Nause, who is responsible for security in the city of Bern, is unhappy with the social network’s response record. Several years ago his team asked for information on user activity in...

In 2018, Switzerland’s population consumed around 87,000 tonnes of chocolate. © Astra490 | Dreamstime.com However, average chocolate consumption dropped from 10.5 kg per person in 2017 to 10.3 kg in 2018, a decline of roughly 2%. This decline reflects last year’s longer hotter summer, according to the industry association Chocosuisse. The fall in consumption of Swiss chocolate in Switzerland declined further, dropping by 3.4%. The gap was filled by increased imports of chocolate from outside...