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Jobs: Why Zurich has rebounded better than other Swiss cities from Covid

The Covid pandemic hit Switzerland hard, although the country's largest city has rebounded strongly.

Published: 15 March 2022 17:04 CET
Zurich, Switzerland's most populous city. Photo by Samira from Pexels
Zurich, Switzerland's most populous city. Photo by Samira from Pexels

Measures imposed due to the Covid pandemic, which began in earnest in February 2020, shuttered businesses across the country and pushed many people out of work. 

When most notable Covid rules were relaxed in Switzerland in mid-February 2022, the economic recovery – highlighted by a strong job market – began in earnest in 2021. 

READ MORE: How the Swiss job market rebounded from the Covid pandemic

Nowhere was this more evident than Zurich, Switzerland’s largest and most economically powerful city. 

How did Zurich rebound from the Covid pandemic in comparison to the rest of the country?

Even though Zurich, along with other large Swiss cities like Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne, have been hit hard by the pandemic from the employment perspective, Zurich’s labour market is now growing faster than in other urban centres.

One of the reasons for this upward trend is that young, well-educated foreigners are coming back.

In the first nine months of 2021, the city’s population grew significantly.

In September alone, it recorded 2,200 additional residents.

This is mainly due to people with a B residence permit, according to Klemens Rosin, methodologist at Zurich’s Statistics Office.

During the crisis, far fewer of them left the city. “This group is made up of well-educated, younger and mobile foreigners who have made a significant contribution to Zurich’s growth”, Rosin said.

Zurich’s employment market is expect to grow even further.

READ MORE: How hard is finding work in Zurich without speaking German?

That’s because in the coming years, many Zurich workers will retire — an estimated  210,000 by year 2050 — creating more job opportunities for younger employees.

In fact, according to a study commissioned by the canton in 2021, if Zurich’s economy is to continue to flourish, it will need around 1.37 million workers by mid-century.

If these vacancies will not be filled, then income, tax revenue and the financing of social security programs will be impacted.

READ MORE: Have your say: What’s the best way to find a job in Zurich

While it is difficult to predict what jobs will be most in demand in 2050 — what new technologies will emerge in the meantime — right now and in medium term, IT workers will be especially needed, experts say, because businesses will continue to to digitalise and automate.

Lower skilled jobs will also be in higher demand, including hospitality, retail and transport. 

With hundreds of thousands of vacancies to fill, people with the permission to work in Switzerland are likely to be flush with offers – particularly skilled workers with recognised qualifications. 

READ MORE: Why finding a job in Switzerland is set to become easier 

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WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

The pitfalls of Switzerland’s social security system you need to avoid

In most cases, Switzerland’s social benefits system functions well. But there are also some loopholes you should know about.

Published: 24 April 2024 13:37 CEST
The pitfalls of Switzerland's social security system you need to avoid

The Swiss social security system has several branches: old-age, survivors’ and disability insurance; health and accident insurance; unemployment benefits, and family allowances.

This is a pretty comprehensive package, which covers everyone who pays into the scheme for a wide variety of ‘what ifs’.

As the government explains it, “people living and working in Switzerland benefit from a tightly woven network of social insurance schemes designed to safeguard them against risks that would otherwise overwhelm them financially.” 

But while most residents of Switzerland are able to benefit, at least to some extent, from this system, others don’t.

What is happening?

If someone becomes ill or has an accident, Switzerland’s compulsory health insurance and / or accident insurance will cover the costs.

However, a prolonged absence from work can become costly.

That is especially the case of people employed by companies that don’t have a collective labour agreement (CLA), a contract negotiated between Switzerland’s trade unions and employers or employer organisations that covers a wide range of workers’ rights. 

READ ALSO: What is a Swiss collective bargaining agreement — and how could it benefit you?

It is estimated that roughly half of Switzerland’s workforce of about 5 million people are not covered by a CLA.

If you just happen to work for a company without a CLA, your employer is not required to pay your salary if your illness is long.

You will receive money for a minimum of three weeks – longer, depending on seniority — but certainly not for the long-haul.

You may think that once your wages stop, the disability insurance (DI) will kick in.

But that’s not the case.

The reason is that DI can be paid only after a year after the wages stop. In practice, however, it sometimes takes several years of investigations and verifications to make sure the person is actually eligible to collect these benefits, rather than just pretending to be sick. 

In the meantime, these people have to use their savings to live on.

What about ‘daily allowance insurance’?

Many companies (especially those covered by a CLA) take out this insurance, so they can pay wages to their sick employees for longer periods of time.

However, this insurance is optional for employers without a CLA is place.

As a result, small companies forego it because it is too much of a financial burden for them.

And people who are self-employed face a problem in this area as well: insurance carriers can (and often do) refuse to cover people they deem to be ‘too risky’ in terms of their age or health status.

Critics are calling the two situations —the length of time it takes for the disability insurance to kick in and gaps in the daily allowance insurance—”perhaps the biggest failures of the social security system.”

Is anything being done to remedy this situation?

Given numerous complaints about the unfairness of the current system, the Social Security and Public Health Commission of the Council of States (CSSS-E) will look into the “consequences of shortcomings and numerous dysfunctions in long-term illness insurance.”

But not everyone in Switzerland sees a problem in the current situation.

According to the Swiss Insurance Association (SIA), for instance, “making daily sickness allowance insurance compulsory for employers would not have the desired effect. Due to false incentives, it would only exacerbate the upward trend in costs and premiums.”

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