Tag Archives: Business & Economy

A recently published study ranks Switzerland 10th on gender pay gap. Switzerland’s gap of 17% is bigger than Italy’s (5.3%), Luxembourg’s (5.5%), Belgium’s (6.1%), Sweden’s (13.3%), Spain’s (14.2%), Denmark’s (15%), France’s (15.2%) or the Netherlands’ (15.6%), but lower than Finland’s (17.4%), Portugal’s (17.5%), Austria’s (20.1%), the UK’s (21%) or Germany’s (21.5%). © Andrii Yalanskyi | Dreamstime.com Confusion around aggregate pay gap figures leads some to conclude women are getting paid...

Switzerland’s unemployment benefits might be generous but they are strictly policed, as one recipient recently discovered. ©-Phartisan-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge For a period of up to approximately two years after losing a job, most workers in Switzerland receive 70% of their former salary up to a maximum of CHF 88,200 a year – the amount paid varies depending on circumstances1. To continue receiving the...

Nestlé recently announced that the global headquarters of Nespresso will move from Lausanne to Vevey. The announcement confirms rumours that have been circulating for some time. © Zingaraheureux _ Dreamstime.com While the move will affect around 350 staff no redundancies are planned. From 2021, Nespresso’s global management team will be housed in a building it owns containing the Nest museum near Vevey’s train station. The global Nespresso team is currently spread across two rented sites in...

Switzerland’s unemployment benefits might be generous but they are strictly policed, as one recipient recently discovered. © Phartisan | Dreamstime.com For a period of up to approximately two years after losing a job, most workers in Switzerland receive 70% of their former salary up to a maximum of CHF 88,200 a year – the amount paid varies depending on circumstances1. To continue receiving the benefit recipients must show they are actively looking for work and file progress reports with...

A government commission looking at the rate, called for a reduction to 0.75%, while unions demanded a rise to 1.25%. In the end the Federal Council decided to take the middle road and leave the rate at 1% for 2019. © Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com The rate is the minimum pension funds must apply to employment related 2nd pillar pension assets in 2019. Some pension funds are concerned about the long term effect imposed rates of return are having on the financial health of pension fund balance...

The high and rising suicide rate among Switzerland’s male farmers stands in contrast to the declining rate among rural men working in other professions, according to a new study by the University of Bern published by the newspaper SonntagsZeitung. © Leonid Eremeychuk | Dreamstime.com The suicide rate among male farmers was 38 per 100,000, a rate that has been rising since 2003. Between 1991 and 2014, 447 farmers in Switzerland took their lives. The rate among all rural men was 33 per 100,000...

According to bilan.ch, Geneva’s Council of State, or executive, has put forward a proposed corporate tax rate of 13.79% as part of its tax reform project, work triggered by international pressure on Switzerland and its cantons to remove preferential tax treatment for certain international companies. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com This rate is the same as the rate already accepted by the government and voters in the canton of Vaud. The new lower rate would apply to all companies operating in...

Once a business is established, there are many ongoing administrative tasks required by law. The main ones are covered in this article. © Lightpoet | Dreamstime.com The first few relate to employees and the rest to taxation and other essential administrative tasks. 1. Social insurance taxes Businesses that employ people, including independents, must pay social insurance taxes. These are administered by compensation funds and rates vary slightly by fund and canton, but are around 15% of...

The latest figures forecast Switzerland’s federal spending for 2018 will be CHF 0.9 billion less than expected. This and higher than expected receipts of CHF 1.3 billion add up to an extra CHF 2.2 billion on top of an original budget surplus of CHF 0.3 billion, bringing the total forecast federal surplus to CHF 2.5 billion. © Marekusz | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s federal government is now expecting to spend CHF 70.2 billion is 2018, around CHF 8,300 per resident. The extra revenue is driven...

According to the annual wealth report produced by Credit Suisse, Switzerland leads on wealth per adult with US$ 530,240, comfortably ahead of second-placed Australia where the figure is US$ 411,060. The US is third with US$ 403,060. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com During the twelve months to mid-2018, aggregate global wealth rose by US$ 14.0 trillion to US$ 317 trillion, a growth rate of 4.6%. Wealth per adult grew by 3.2%, raising global mean wealth to USD 63,100 per adult, a record high. There...