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THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

Five big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week

Highest paid jobs, and a new questionnaire providing information about naturalisations, are among the Swiss news The Local reported this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.

Published: 2 February 2024 16:27 CET
Five big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week
Dashing down the snowy slope: this is what February is about. Image by Oleksandr Pyrohov from Pixabay

Where can Switzerland’s employees earn most money right now?

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.

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

Swiss regions where English language is common (though not official!)

English is not one of Switzerland’s four official languages,  but in certain regions of the country it is more common than in others.

Newly released research shines a light on the canton with the highest proportion of people who use English as their primary language. (Hint: it starts with a letter ‘Z’, but it’s not Zurich).

READ ALSO: The Swiss canton where English is spoken the most 
 
From ski passes to safety: What you should know before you hit the slopes

February is a traditional ‘family ski’ month in Switzerland, when tens of thousands of people pack up their cars and head for mountain resorts.

But before you and your family head for the slopes, there is a number of useful things you should know.

They range from avoiding traffic jams, various types of ski passes, as well as how to be prepared for the worst-case scenario: injuries.
 
READ ALSO: What you should know about skiing in the Swiss Alps this winter

New online tool provides information on the naturalisation process

If you are wondering whether you are eligible to apply for the facilitated procedure to obtain Swiss citizenship, you can now find the answer online.

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has just launched the pilot phase of its ‘naturalisation self-check’ — a simple questionnaire that will provide this information.

READ ALSO: What is the new ‘self-check’ for Swiss citizenship and who is it for?

New government study shows the extent of racism in Switzerland

Even though the majority of Swiss population are not racist, a number of foreigners, people with migration background, and ethnic minorities report instances of racial discrimination they experienced in the past five years.

Now a new report reveals in what areas racism is most prevalent and what form it takes.

READ ALSO: Are foreigners in Switzerland likely to experience some form of racism?

And also…

The month of February is still very young. If you are wondering what lies ahead for the remaining 27 days of the month, you can find all the answers here:

READ ALSO: Everything that changes in Switzerland in February 2024
 
 

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For members

THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

Six big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week

Russia's cyberattacks on Swiss government websites and deadly explosion near Zurich are among the Swiss news The Local reported this week. You can catch up on everything in this weekly roundup.

Published: 14 June 2024 15:00 CEST
Six big news stories from Switzerland you need to know about this week

Government will have to implement measures to cut the cost of health insurance

After Swiss voters rejected two initiatives to curb the price of obligatory health insurance premiums on June 9th, it is now up to the Federal Council and the cantons to step in with their own counter-proposals.

These measures provide for various ways to curb the cost of premiums, including earmarking a portion of public budgets for premium reductions for low-income families, as well as setting up a commission for monitoring costs and quality of health insurance. 

Switzerland’s international schools are most expensive in Europe

Ninety-four schools in 10 Swiss cities are geared specifically to students whose parents are foreign nationals and want their children to get an international education that is recognised abroad more widely than a solely Swiss schooling is — especially outside the EU.

But according to a  new survey carried out by International Schools Database, which researches and compares schools in cities across the world, the cost of tuition and other services at these schools (such as extra-curricular activities, for instance), is higher than in international institutions across Europe.
 
READ ALSO: Why are international schools in Switzerland the most expensive in Europe? 

Russia launches cyberattacks on Swiss government websites

Just as Switzerland is preparing to launch a high-level summit on peace in Ukraine, its websites had been hit by a wave of cyberattacks.

Russia is suspected to be at the origin of these actions.

The government said, however, that these attacks were expected and are presumed to be in connection with the summit. They resulted in minor outages but the operation of the affected units was not significantly affected.

READ ALSO: Swiss government hit by cyberattack ahead of Ukraine peace summit 

Deadly explosion in an underground garage
 
Two people died, and 11 were injured in a town near Zurich when powerful fireworks exploded in the underground car park of an apartment building. 

The incident happened in Nussbaumen, in canton Aargau.

But while the cause of the blast is known, investigators are looking into how exactly the incident occurred.
 
READ ALSO: Two killed after explosions in Swiss underground garage 

Buying property could become less expensive

Thanks to falling mortgage interest rates — due mostly to two key rate cuts still expected from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) — mortgages are now significantly lower than they were at this time in 2023.

Many are now below 2 percent and they are expected to drop further by the beginning of 2025.

This is already the case in the cantons of Bern, Solothurn, Aargau, Schaffhausen, and Thurgau, as well as in certain areas of Vaud, Fribourg, and Valais, where buying a home is also already cheaper than renting.

READ ALSO: Property prices in Switzerland set to become (slightly) more affordable 

And also:
 
Have you caught football fever yet?

It is not dangerous to our health but its cure is straight-forward: you must watch the EURO 2024 games.
 
Whether indoors or outside, there are many opportunities to cheer on the Swiss ‘Nati’ which, depending on the linguistic region where you live could be ‘Hopp Schwiiz,’ ‘Hop Suisse,’ or ‘Hop Svizzera.’

READ ALSO: Where you can watch Euro 2024 in Switzerland 
 
 

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