Tag Archives: Business & Economy

In this year’s Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore tied for the the position of the most expensive. © David Prahl _ Dreamstime.com The survey looks at 160 items including food, drink, rent, transport and utility bills, in 133 cities. New York, the base city, came in 7th, alongside Seoul and Copenhagen. Zurich and Geneva were 4th and 5th. The ten most expensive cities were: 1. Singapore (Singapore)1. Paris (France)1. Hong Kong (China)4. Zurich...

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) has decided to further regulate drones by forcing owners to register them, according to the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag. © Williammacgregor | Dreamstime.com The new requirement, which will probably start in 2020, was suggested in 2017. Drone registration would be done online by the owner. How the police would access the database is still being considered. Currently, those flying drones weighing more than 30 kg require authorization. There are...

Mercer’s 2019 livability ranking looks at 231 cities across the globe. Vienna comes top for the tenth year in a row, while Bagdad ranks last. © Scanrail | Dreamstime.com Three Swiss cities are among the global top ten. Zurich is 2nd, Geneva 9th and Basel 10th. Bern, a fourth Swiss city, is not far behind in 14th place. No other Swiss cities were included in the survey so there is no way of knowing where Lausanne Winterthur, Luzern or St Gallen might have ranked. The ranking is based on the...

© Teo Lay Peng | Dreamstime.com Strolling through the pasta aisle of a Swiss supermarket, someone new to Switzerland might conclude that the locals prefer egg pasta over the eggless variety. And, while that might to some extent be true, there is another reason. Every year, Swiss egg producers produce too many eggs and turn to the government for help. The Federal Office of Agriculture (OFAG) does three things. Firstly,...

Strolling through the pasta aisle of a Swiss supermarket, someone new to Switzerland might conclude that the locals prefer egg pasta over the eggless variety. And, while that might to some extent be true, there is another reason. © Teo Lay Peng | Dreamstime.com Every year, Swiss egg producers produce too many eggs and turn to the government for help. The Federal Office of Agriculture (OFAG) does three things. Firstly, it funds retail egg discounts and runs a “broken egg” programme, which...

Recently published figures show a 7% decline in the percentage of men in Switzerland’s workforce between 1991 and 2018. © Volker Husberg _ Dreamstime.com The workforce figures, which include the unemployed, show a fall in male workforce participation from 81% to 74%, a 7% decline over 27 years. At the same time, the percentage of women working rose 6% from 57% to 63% between 1991 and 2018. Workforce participation for both genders combined declined 0.5% from 1991 to 2018. The largest drop for...

The low-cost French sports goods chain has plans to expand in Switzerland. 14 new stores, employing between 500 and 600 staff, are planned for 2019, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. © Björn Wylezich _ Dreamstime.com Many of the new stores will be refurbished Athleticum stores. Décathlon teamed up with Athleticum in 2018. In German-speaking Switzerland, the first stores will open in Suhr (Aargau) and Baar (Zug) in March. These will be followed by stores in Bern, Winterthur and St....

Since 2016, drug makers have voluntarily published the amounts they pay to Swiss doctors, who prescribe drugs to patients. In 2017 the sum was CHF 12.5 million, according to the association Science Industries. © Pojoslaw | Dreamstime.com In 2016, the same figure was CHF 14 million. While drug makers publish the amounts paid, the information published does not always reveal the names of doctors receiving the money. Consumers of health services are therefore not always able to see how much...

© Gunnar3000 | Dreamstime.com There are various ways to measure unemployment. Switzerland’s standard measure looks at the number of people registered with unemployment offices across the country. By this measure Switzerland’s unemployment recently reached a 10 year low of 2.6%. Today, another unemployment measure was published. It shows a 0.1% increase in unemployment over the fourth quarter of 2018 to 4.6% or 227,000...

A recent report by Addiction Suisse says Switzerland has created the ideal environment for the sale and consumption of drugs. © Jaymast | Dreamstime.com The report points out the easy availability of drugs in Switzerland. It says illegal drugs can be found quickly, easily and cheaply in Swiss cities. In addition, legal drugs are available around the clock in shops, service stations, vending machines, kiosques, casinos and on the internet. Among illegal drugs, cocaine is the biggest with...