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Are you being underpaid in Switzerland? Here’s how to find out

This tool shows you how much you should be earning in a wide variety of industries in Switzerland.

Published: 17 June 2021 12:35 CEST
Updated: 29 June 2022 15:47 CEST
Are you being underpaid in Switzerland? Here’s how to find out
A waiter serves coffee. Are you being paid too little in Switzerland? Photo: John MACDOUGALL / AFP

Swiss salaries are known to be among the most competitive in the world. 

This however does not prevent people from being underpaid. 

Swiss salaries: How much do people earn in Switzerland?

A wage calculator created by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB) allows employees to check within seconds whether their salaries are high enough.

The SGB programmed the calculator with the latest salary levels from 72 different industry sectors and 36,000 companies.

Ultimately, the tool takes into account the wages of more than two million employees. 

In June 2021, the SGB updated the calculator with new information and improved its usability. 

The underlying data comes from Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office. 

By inputting information such as the number of years spent working in a given position, the online calculator computes customary local wages for the job in question.

READ MORE: REVEALED: What are the best and worst paid jobs in Switzerland?

The calculator is available at the following link in French, German and Italian. 

In addition to knowing how your actually salary compares to the average, the tool is also useful in wage negotiations with your employer. 

How does the tool work?

At present, an English version of the wage calculator has not been developed. 

That said, it is relatively simple to use even if your French, German or English is in need of improvement. 

Firstly, enter your job title. Then enter the type of work you practice, i.e. your specification. 

Then you will be asked to enter a range of specific factors about yourself, including your age, your education and experience, where you live and how much you work per week. 

The tool will then provide a range in which your salary should sit. 

As can be seen in the following image, this will be relatively broad so as to include bonuses or the possibility of being paid a ’13th’ or ’14th salary’. 

You are also shown where you sit compared to other workers in similar industries, i.e. how many earn more or less than you. 

There are also a relatively comprehensive set of FAQs which explain how wages work in Switzerland, how to calculate your wage (i.e. hourly, daily, weekly or monthly) and various other questions. 

It also lays out steps you can follow if your wage is less than 25 percent below the average, including contacting a union to push your case. 

Tool provides minimum wage info 

The tool also provides indications as to the minimum wage in different industry sectors. 

As The Local Switzerland has reported recently, Switzerland does not have a minimum wage at a federal level, although some cantons have put in place a minimum. 

That does not however mean that your employer is free to pay you as much – or as little – as he or she wants. Instead, the minimum amount you can be paid will be determined through negotiations with your employer which will may feature a trade union representative. 

Whether this be an hourly amount or one which is set for full or part-time hours, setting a minimum standard in specific industries is a common way to ensure workers aren’t underpaid or unpaid. 

More information about the minimum wage in Switzerland can be found at the following link.

Minimum wage in Switzerland: What you need to know

Editor note: A version of this story was first published on The Local Switzerland on June 17th, 2021. 

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SHOPPING

REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Lidl, Aldi and Denner claim their prices beat those of large Swiss retailers. But is this really the case?

Published: 18 April 2024 11:40 CEST
Updated: 1 May 2024 06:35 CEST
REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Common consumer goods (except one) are typically more expensive in Switzerland than in neighbour countries — sometimes by much.

This includes food.

READ ALSO: Why Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe

That is especially the case of largest Swiss chains, Migros and Coop, while Denner, Lidl, and Aldi say their food prices are significantly lower.

To find out whether this claim is actually true, journalists from RTS public broadcaster’s consumer programme went shopping in each of these supermarkets. 

They purchased the same 30 products in each of the five supermarkets on the same day, to ensure that the price comparison is as accurate as possible.

Not what you’d expect

In each of the stores, the investigators purchased only the lowest priced items from the supermarkets’ budget lines.

It turned out that most money was spent at Denner, widely considered to be one of the lowest-priced supermarkets.

The total for the 30 items came to 181.67 francs — more than was spent at the country’s more expensive stores, Migros and Coop, where identical basket of goods cost 170.37 and 167.82 francs, respectively.

(That, in itself, is surprising as well, because Migros typically has lower prices than Coop).

As for the other two supermarkets, these purchases cost 166.59 francs at Aldi and 162.05 at Lidl.

So the difference in price between Migros and Coop versus Aldi and Lidl is minimal. But what is even more surprising is that the cost of groceries at ‘cheap’ Denner is actually highest of the lot, by between 11 and nearly 20 francs.

Migros and Coop performed quite well in the comparison survey because most of the items purchased in those stores came from their budget lines, M-Budget and Prix-Garantie, respectively, both of which were introduced to compete with Aldi and Lidl.

But how important is price? Patrick Krauskopf, a professor of anti-trust law, told RTS: “German, French, English, Spanish and American consumers pay a lot of attention to price. In Switzerland, consumers place more emphasis on quality of service. Price is almost secondary.

“Distributors have realised this and have stopped competing fiercely on price.”

Big versus small

While this particular analysis focused on supermarket chains, another survey, conducted at the end of 2023, looked at prices in small grocery shops. 

Common logic has it that it is cheaper to shop in supermarkets than a local corner store, because big retailers purchase products in large quantities, which means lower prices for consumers.

However, prices in some local shops were found to be “up to 30 percent cheaper than Migros and Coop.” 

The reason is that in order to cut costs, small grocers may buy their products from the most cost-effective suppliers, a tactic which includes importing some items.

Another reason for lower prices is that unlike major supermarkets, which ‘pretty up’ their stores for better presentation of products, these small retailers are ‘no-frill’ shops. This means little money is invested in décor, so there are no extra costs to pass on to consumers.

 READ ALSO: Why it might be cheaper to avoid the big supermarkets in Switzerland
 

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