A new survey by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute in Zurich has found that 128.000 jobs in Switzerland were vacant at the end of June 2022. The remarkable vacancy rate is the highest ever recorded by the organisation and comes as unemployment falls to a 20-year low.
Watson reports that, according to the study, “an enormous number of new full-time jobs were created” in the summer of 2022. The study found that there were 128.000 positions available at the end of June - the same size as the population of Bern.
The data in June was “by far the highest number of vacancies that have ever been counted on the Swiss labour market”, KOF noted. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 1,9 percent in September 2022, its lowest level in over 20 years.
The shortage of workers in Switzerland has also made salaries more competitive, according to a KOF survey of domestic and international companies. On average, wages in the alpine nation are forecast to increase by 2,2 percent in 2023, with the largest increases predicted in the hospitality sector (4,4 percent).
However, while these rises are significantly higher than in previous years, Watson noted that many employees will be worse off in 2023, as the cost of goods and services is expected to rise by 3 percent on average. Other areas have seen prices rise faster, with the cost of Swiss health insurance rising by 6,6 percent, and energy costs increasing by up to 263 percent.
KOF concluded that in most cases, "From 2022 to 2023, wages will rise at about the same rate as consumer prices." While this may seem like bad news, people in the alpine nation will be better off than other countries like Germany, which saw inflation rise to 10 percent in September.