Tag Archives: Business & Economy

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...

The percentage of Switzerland’s workers working for themselves has been slowly declining. In 2010, 13.7% of workers were self-employed. By 2017, the figure was 12.8% – self-employed includes those working as independents and those working for companies they own. Swiss (14.5%) are far more likely to be self-employed than foreigners (7.9%). This is partly explained by the low number of foreign farmers – farming is the Swiss industry with the highest percentage of owner operators (46%). ©...

Switzerland exported close to 18% more arms over the first nine months of 2018 than it did in the first nine months of 2017, according to figures published by State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Nwanda76 _ Dreamstime.com According to the numbers, in the nine months to 30 September 2018, Swiss companies exported close to CHF 300 million of arms, nearly CHF 45 million or 17.6% more than over the same period in 2017. The largest customers were Germany (60 million), Denmark (51...

Swiss Rail announced on Thursday that it would test free WiFi, named FreeSurf, on certain routes next year with a plan to extend the offer to all major routes from 2020, according to RTS. © Man Nok Ip | Dreamstime.com Train passengers benefiting from the tests in 2019 will be those travelling on InterCity trains between Lausanne and St. Gallen, Geneva and Zurich, and Bienne and Basel. Swiss Rail has not chosen Swisscom as its partner. So far only Salt and Sunrise are involved, however...