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WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

Which jobs in Switzerland offer the highest wages right now?

The ongoing shortage of skilled workers in Switzerland is pushing salaries in some in-demand fields upwards.

Published: 23 November 2023 15:53 CET
Which jobs in Switzerland offer the highest wages right now?
IT specialists are among the most in demand and highest paid employees. Photo: Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

While unions say that many employees in Switzerland are underpaid, and that inflation is eating up part of their wages, in some professions salaries are well above Switzerland’s median annual income of 80,000 francs.

This is what emerges from a recent study released by a Zurich-based personnel consultancy Robert Half.

Sectors where wages are highest

In some industries impacted by shortage of skilled workers, salaries are correspondingly high.

This is what has been happening in the areas of finance, accounting, human resources (HR), and information technology (IT).

In many cases, qualified employees in these sectors can earn upwards of 100,000 francs per year, according to the study.

For example, these wages are common for entry level and in junior positions:

Helpdesk: 110,000 francs
 
Business analyst: 102,000 francs
 
HR manager: 103,250 francs
 
System engineer: 100,500 francs
 
Data scientist: 100,000 francs
 
Software developer: 101,500 francs
 
Credit & Risk Manager: 127,000 francs

These are indeed impressive wages for entry-level positions.

But that’s not all: it gets better.

If you have above-average qualifications (which are defined differently depending on the job), as well as long professional experience in the field, you can expect to earn these six-figure  salaries:
 
Accounting manager: 153,000 francs
 
Compliance manager: 168,000 francs
 
Payroll accountant: 132,500 francs
 
Personal/management assistant: 115,250 francs
 
HR Business Partner: 142,750 francs
 
HR specialist: 122,500 francs
 
Controller: 152,750 francs

READ ALSO:  Why are Swiss wages so high? 

Why are salaries in these fields so much higher than the median wage?

These wages reflect the current state of Switzerland’s labour market (that is, the scarcity of suitable employees), as well as evolving needs of individual sectors.

In IT, for instance, “the pressure on HR managers [to fill vacancies] is immense. There are many open positions, with few available staff,” said Renata von Gottberg, director at Robert Half.

Also, the importance of IT, and various specialisations therein, will continue to increase in the coming years.

“The entire area of IT security plays a central role, especially now that the first new technologies in the areas of automation or artificial intelligence are finding their way into companies,” von Gottberg said.
 
Given this context, companies are willing to pay a lot to employees able to meet the constantly evolving and complex requirements in these fields.

READ ALSO: What Swiss employers are doing to recruit hard-to-find staff

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JOBS

Which professions in Switzerland are harder for foreigners to break into?

In many sectors of Switzerland’s economy, Swiss employees prevail over foreign ones — and vice-versa.

Published: 15 May 2024 14:40 CEST
Which professions in Switzerland are harder for foreigners to break into?

In the past, the ‘division of labour’ in Switzerland was clear: foreign nationals held mostly manual (and therefore lower-paid) jobs, while the Swiss worked in managerial / executive and other middle and high positions.

Many sectors still follow these traditional roles, with some jobs held almost exclusively by Swiss citizens, and others by foreign nationals.

Which jobs are mostly held by the Swiss?

To find this out, the Basel-based consultancy firm, Demografik, surveyed professions with more than 10,000 employees.

It found that “about 60 percent of the country’s masons and flooring installers are foreign-born,” Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), reported.

The comparable figure among the country’s unskilled workers as a whole is even higher —  84 percent.

“Swiss nationals also make up only a third of kitchen assistants and cleaning staffers” — jobs typically held by immigrants with no higher education or vocational training.

On the other hand, Swiss citizens hold a number of jobs that are almost unattainable for unskilled foreign nationals, including police officers, teachers, lawyers, senior administrative staff, and social workers.

Only a small percentage of immigrants work in these professions.

However, they dominate fields such as service staff, chauffeurs, unskilled industrial workers, and construction — jobs where very few Swiss can be found.

Why is this?

“The proportion of foreign workers is highest in jobs that are generally considered unappealing – whether because of the low pay, high level of physical demands or irregular working hours,” said Demografik economist Lisa Triolo.

“Nevertheless, these professions are important for the functioning of the economy, because they are difficult to automate.”

Triolo also found that foreigners mainly work in areas where recruiting employees has been difficult.

“The longer the vacancy period in an occupational group, the higher the proportion of foreigners,” she pointed out.  “For example, construction is the sector in which companies take the longest to fill an open position.”

Is this survey objective?

It is, if you focus primarily on unskilled foreign workers, who basically take on jobs that the Swiss don’t want.

The picture is different, however, if you include skilled professionals into the mix.

Many of them hold the same positions, and earn equal or even higher wages, than their Swiss counterparts.

READ ALSO: In which jobs in Switzerland do foreign workers earn more than the Swiss? 

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