Tag Archives: Work

Switzerland has returned as a popular destination for foreigners looking for work after two years of Covid-19 restrictions. Over 75,000 people have immigrated to Switzerland so far in 2022, driven largely by an economic boom and unemployment levels falling to a 20-year low. Alexander Thoele began working for SWI swissinfo.ch in 2002. He is of German and Brazilian origin. He was born in Rio de Janeiro and completed studies in journalism and computer science in...

Under construction: the new Novartis Pavilion in Basel. Keystone / Georgios Kefalas Of the 1,400 job cuts announced by the pharma giant in Switzerland, up to half of them will involve staff in leadership positions, the company said on Monday. For these executive roles, the consultation process has been finalised, and the first individuals concerned will be informed “in the coming weeks”, said the head of Novartis Switzerland Matthias Leuenberger at a media event in...

Trade union representatives argue employees are entitled to higher wages as the Swiss economy has picked up from the Covid crisis. Keystone/Anthony Anex The Trade Union Federation has called for a blanket salary rise for all employees as the Swiss economy recovers from the Covid-19 crisis. Switzerland’s main trade union umbrella group said employees should be entitled to a salary increase of at least 2% or CHF100 ($109) per month. Trade union president Pierre-Yves...

A Swiss pensioners' cycling group at Solothurn, Switzerland, on July 26, 2018. © Keystone / Christian Beutler Around half of all people stop working before the official retirement age in Switzerland, according to new federal data. This content was published on May 4, 2021 - 13:32 May 4, 2021 - 13:32 RTS/sb On Tuesday, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported External linkthat in 2019 between 40-50% of people started receiving their pension from their...

Magdalena Martullo-Blocher, CEO and vice-chair of Ems Chemie, is one of five leaders of top Swiss firms. © Keystone / Walter Bieri The proportion of women in Swiss company boardrooms and management ranks continues to rise, according to an annual survey of the largest employers in both private and public sectors. The share of management positions held by women increased from 10% in 2019 to 13% last year, says the latest edition of the Schilling ReportExternal link...

Hundreds of small alpine businesses rely on the fund for support. © Keystone / Christian Beutler A Swiss fund that supports small businesses in alpine regions bailed out 100 firms last year that were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Schweizer Berghilfe (Swiss Mountain Aid) doled out an extra CHF2 million ($2.26 million) to support Covid-hit enterprises. Volunteers put in 15% more hours evaluating and processing the extra demand for financial support, the...

A hotel in Zurich: there are a lot less jobs going in this sector right now. Keystone / Gaetan Bally New job offers have dropped by over a quarter in Switzerland due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with hotel, restaurant, and personal services sectors worst hit. Between April and June, job postings went down by 27%, the human resources firm Adecco Switzerland reported on Tuesday. Anna von Ow, a University of Zurich researcher who worked on the report, said the collapse in...

With less surgeries taking place, some doctors and healthcare professionals don’t have enough work. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) With the ban on non-emergency surgeries and other procedures, some hospitals and medical practices are applying for partial unemployment support for at least 20,000 healthcare workers. On Thursday, the German language paper TagesAnzeigeexternal linkr reported that due to the social distancing restrictions and ban on non-urgent medical...

Unions are worried the vote would weaken protection for workers in Switzerland. (Keystone / Peter Klaunzer) Trade unions have come out against the initiative to scrap the freedom of movement agreement with the European Union, saying a “yes” vote would be “an attack on all workers”. Accepting the right-wing proposal would lead to a situation whereby “collective agreements and wage checks would be replaced by an unfettered competition of all against all,” Swiss Trade...

Swiss watch manufacturers exported timepieces worth over CHF21 billion ($21.7 billion) last year – the industry’s third-best result ever. Watchmaking is Switzerland’s third-biggest export sector after pharmaceutical and machine tools. Almost 95% of production is sold abroad, the majority to Asia. First the good news. Despite a complicated business year which saw a net drop in sales in Hong Kong, the main destination for Swiss-made watches, firms ended 2019 extremely...