Tag Archives: Immigration

Net migration into Switzerland from the EU was down by 11% last year, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Arturo Osorno | Dreamstime.com In 2017, a net 31,250 people from the EU and EFTA moved to Switzerland. And, with a 4% decline in the number arriving over the five months to May 2018, the fall looks set to continue. For some nationalities the net flow went into reverse. In 2017, more Portuguese left Switzerland than arrived. The fall appears to be related to...

Currently, across EU and EFTA countries, unemployment benefits are paid by the country of residence. Last week, the EU announced plans to make the country of employment pay unemployment benefits instead. © Meryll | Dreamstime.com This change could be costly for Swiss cantons with large numbers of cross-border workers, workers who live in the EU but work in Switzerland. In March 2018, there were 316,000 workers in Switzerland living outside the country. Cantons with the most cross-border...

In 2016, around 273,000 people, 3.3% of the population, received welfare in Switzerland. The number (not the rate) was 2.9% higher than the year before and 15.7% higher than 5 years earlier when the rate was 3.0%. Neuchâtel, the canton with the highest rate of beneficiaries © Olga Demchishina | Dreamstime.com Rates of those receiving government aid varied significantly by canton, ranging from 0.8% in Appenzell Innerrhoden to 7.4% in Neuchâtel. Other cantons with higher than average rates...

In 2016, around 273,000 people, 3.3% of the population, received welfare in Switzerland. The number (not the rate) was 2.9% higher than the year before and 15.7% higher than 5 years earlier when the rate was 3.0%. Neuchâtel, the canton with the highest rate of beneficiaries © Olga Demchishina | Dreamstime.com Rates of those receiving government aid varied significantly by canton, ranging from 0.8% in Appenzell Innerrhoden to 7.4% in Neuchâtel. Other cantons with higher than average rates...

After the Swiss mountain village of Albinen hatched a plan to pay parents (CHF 25,000 each) and children (CHF 10,000 each) to move there, it has been inundated with applicants. Articles about the offer have been published by Time, The Sunday Times, The Sun, El Pais, and many other publications. Rather than celebrating, the picturesque town’s administration is unhappy. It published a statement on its website accusing...

After the Swiss mountain village of Albinen hatched a plan to pay parents (CHF 25,000 each) and children (CHF 10,000 each) to move there, it has been inundated with applicants. [embedded content] Articles about the offer have been published by Time, The Sunday Times, The Sun, El Pais, and many other publications. Rather than celebrating, the picturesque town’s administration is unhappy. It published a statement on its website accusing the media of false reports that have created unnecessary...

20 Minutes. A motion adopted by Switzerland’s parliament on 7 June 2017 proposes halting the import the meat of mistreated animals. The work of Matthias Aebischer, a socialist member from the canton of Bern, was originally focused on foie gras, frogs legs and fur, but there are now suggestions his motion might include animals slaughtered according to certain islamic and jewish rituals. © Balint Radu | Dreamstime According to the newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Katharina Büttiker, the president of...

If you have ever wondered how much employees in Switzerland get paid you can check with the online tool Salarium, created by the Swiss government. © Shaunwilkinson – Dreamstime The information is compiled from a database of numbers from a salary survey done in 2014. After entering five required bits of information: region, business sector, occupation, professional position and working hours, the tool calculates the gross monthly median salary and range. It can be further fined tuned with...

Le Matin. On 15 June 2017, one day after kicking off the job of collecting the signatures required to call a referendum, the text for a new plan to limit access to Switzerland’s job market was presented to the Swiss government. Before a Swiss popular vote or referendum can be launched 100,000 valid signatures must be collected within the space of 18 months. The text for this initiative calls for immigration to be halted when unemployment rises above 3.2%. The International Labour...

© Irakite | Dreamstime.com Ahead of the automatic exchange of bank account information, which comes into effect at the beginning of next year, Swiss residents with undeclared foreign bank accounts are rushing to come clean to the tax authorities, according to Swiss broadcaster RTS. According to RTS, 380 have come forward in Fribourg, 173 in Valais, 254 in Jura, around 2,000 in Neuchâtel and 4,000 in Geneva. The canton...