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WORKING IN SWITZERLAND

Which sectors and jobs in Switzerland are seeing the biggest salary hikes?

Generally speaking, Swiss wages are among the highest in the world, attracting an increasing numbers of foreign workers. But which professions currently offer the highest earning potential?

Published: 30 January 2024 15:37 CET
Which sectors and jobs in Switzerland are seeing the biggest salary hikes?
Internet technology is among sectors that command high salaries. Image by Ronald Carreño from Pixabay

The answer to this question comes from new data compiled by Michael Page, a Switzerland-based recruitment consultant firm.

Its ‘Salary Guide 2024’ covers over 550 job types across 15 key sectors, so it is a comprehensive work-related resource. 

The agency found that jobs in IT and digital marketing “showed the highest increases” in salaries — 6 to 10 percent more over the last 12 months.
Specifically, job categories showing the highest salary increases include digital sales and marketing (+10 percent), followed by IT (+6 percent).

Sectors where wages went up by more than five percent over the last 12 months include Finance and Accounting, Health and Life Sciences, Procurement and Supply Chain, Property and Construction, as well as Office and Management Support.

The financial services sector is also lucrative in terms of pay.

A chief financial officer in an international company, for instance, could be paid, on average, as much as 360,000 francs a year, while the salary of a chief investment officer would be only slightly lower at 320,000 francs annually.

READ ALSO: Why are Swiss wages so high?

Where in Switzerland are wages highest?

At about 9,000 francs a month on average, Zurich’s workers have the highest salaries in the country (and among the highest in the world as well), according to the Federal Statistical Office. 

Next on the pay scale are the Lake Geneva region (cantons of Geneva and Vaud), as well as Northwestern Switzerland (Basel), with 8,000 francs on average.

This means, not surprisingly, that the highest paying jobs can be found in Switzerland’s largest cities.

What is the situation on Switzerland’s job market right now —  and what is the forecast?

The country continues to lack skilled employees in many sectors and regions — one of the reasons why many companies are willing to pay top dollar (or, in Switzerland’s case, top franc) for qualified workers.

Overall, the current shortage is “at its highest level in Switzerland,” according to a report by the University of St. Gallen. 

And to make matters worse, this situation is expected to deteriorate further in short term: as baby boomers continue to retire, they will create 340,000 vacancies by 2025. 

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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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