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WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

Why does Zurich have the highest wages in Switzerland?

Various studies show that when it comes to salaries, Switzerland’s largest city has an edge over other regions. What is the reason for that?

Published: 23 May 2023 10:48 CEST
Zurich
Zurich boasts Switzerland's highest salaries. Image by Hebi B. from Pixabay

Switzerland’s wages are famously high overall, but if you analyse them closer, you will see that, salary-wise, some regions fare better than others.

Logically, earnings are higher in large cities than in small towns and rural areas, as that is where most economic opportunities are.

However, income disparities exist even between the urban centres.

This has been shown in various surveys, including the latest one, released this month by HES-SO, the umbrella association of Swiss universities of applied sciences (UAS). 

Unlike general universities, UAS doesn’t offer Master or Doctorate degrees, but rather Bachelor’s programmes linked with a specific professional field. They are often attended by people who had completed their vocational training and wish to further their education.

What did this survey find?

What emerged from this study is that graduates of universities of applied sciences earn significantly more in 2023 that they did two years ago, when the last study was carried out.

Their median annual wage currently amounts to 104,000 francs, compared to 100,000 in 2021.

However, the results also indicate that there are regional disparities, with wages being higher in German than in French-speaking Switzerland.  

Among the cantons, Zurich is in the lead, with a median income of just over 111,000 francs per year.

This is not exactly a new piece of information: statistics show that salaries in Zurich are 10.8 percent higher than in Geneva, and 5.4 percent higher than in Basel.

How can this discrepancy be explained?

The Local put this question to Fabian Büsser, director at Michael Page recruitment agency.

He said that it is a matter of what kind of jobs are most in demand and their geographical location.

“Some of the highest paying jobs are in finance, insurance, IT, and engineering,” he pointed out, most of which are located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

“This region accounts for nearly 90 percent of advertised jobs in these sectors and is home to the largest banks, insurers and technology companies, as well as other firms requiring engineers, such as real estate and property,” Büsser said.

According to the latest Michael Page Swiss Job Index, while 89 percent of these jobs can be found in the German-speaking region, only 10 percent are in the French-speaking area (and even fewer — 1 percent — in Ticino).

There is, however, some positive news for the Swiss-French part

The HES-SO survey found that while this region trails behind the German-speaking part, the wages there have increased significantly.

The median annual salary in the Geneva area is 92,300 francs, which corresponds to an increase of 8.4 percent compared to two years earlier.
This is particularly the case in the IT branch, with a median salary of 112,000 francs, followed by finance and insurance, with 106,000 francs.

How do these wages compare to those who graduate from ‘regular’ universities?

Switzerland has several kinds of higher education establishments: cantonal universities and two federal polytechnic institutes: one in Zurich (ETH) and the other in Lausanne (EPFL).

They are considered the ‘highest’ educational institutions.

Graduates of these establishments can earn as much as 10,170 francs a month, which amounts to 122,000 a year.

READ ALSO: How much can you earn with a Swiss university degree?

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WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

‘I thought it would be different’: What to expect from a seasonal job in Switzerland

While most foreign nationals who are employed in Switzerland work here long-term, others come specifically for seasonal work.

Published: 16 April 2024 12:35 CEST
'I thought it would be different': What to expect from a seasonal job in Switzerland

In an article published in foreign media on Monday, a South African woman relates her experiences of working in the Swiss Alps during the latest ski season.

Though she had great (and clearly unrealistic) expectations of her two short-stint jobs as a waitress in a ski resort, her hopes were dashed after she was fired from both, subsequently venting her anger on TikTok.

The litany of her complaints includes that her work “was exhausting” and that she and other seasonal personnel were “exploited”.

She even found it unfair that there were … “so many Swiss people”.

“Me not speaking German was really hard. I had to learn so many Swiss drinks. All the beers were in German, so there was a lot to learn.”

It is not clear what the woman thought her job in Switzerland, and in the German-speaking part at that, should legitimately entail, but she concluded that she is “so disappointed with Switzerland. I thought it would be completely different”.

All this brings up the question of what you should reasonably expect from a seasonal job.

But first: what is a ‘seasonal’ job?

As the name suggests, it is temporary, usually short-term work, performed at certain times of the year that are particularly busy for a given industry.

It includes extra help needed by businesses during peak periods — for instance, retailers hiring additional staff during the Christmas shopping season.

In Switzerland, seasonal (mostly foreign) workers are typically hired by winemakers during the grape harvest in early fall, or, as was the case with the South African woman, during the winter sports season.

In the latter case, as relatively few people live permanently in resort areas, there is a shortage of local employees to work in various jobs that are essential for tourism.

Tourists far outnumber the locals in Swiss ski resorts – which means “outsiders” must be hired for the efficient running of the local economy.

However, while the more “glamorous” jobs like ski instructors may be hard to get (sport instructors must have special qualifications and be certified), work in a service sector, which includes hotels, bars, and restaurants, is plentiful.

READ ALSO: How to find a job in winter sports in Switzerland 

What about summer jobs ?

They too are considered “seasonal” but would typically be filled by Switzerland-based students rather than people coming from abroad specifically for this purpose, as is the case with the grape harvesting and winter sports sectors.

In Geneva, however, this type of work has become scarce, though it is still available in most other cantons.

READ ALSO: Why it’s becoming more difficult to get a summer job in Geneva

Are seasonal employees really ‘exploited’, as the South African woman claimed?

Though Switzerland has no special regulations for seasonal workers, the usual labour rules and protections apply to them as well.

Like any other job contracts, short-term ones must also be in writing and outline the rights and obligations of both employer and employee.

However, if you think you are being treated unfairly in your seasonal (or “regular”) job, contact your employer in writing to express your position.

If that doesn’t help, your next course of action should be a union (if there is one) and, as a last resort, the cantonal civil court responsible for settling labour disputes.

How can foreign nationals apply for seasonal work permits?

Rules are determined by the candidate’s nationality – as is the case for “regular”, long-term employment.

This means that people from the European Union and EFTA (Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) can work in Switzerland for up to three months without  a permit (they must, however, declare their arrival in the canton within 14 days).

Rules for people from outside the EU / EFTA depend on how long they plan to work in Switzerland.

If it is up to three months, they must apply for a short-stay L permit.

For work contracts of up to four months, a D visa is needed. 

You can find seasonal work here. 

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