A new report from EconomieSuisse and the Swiss Employers’ Association has warned that Switzerland will be short of 460.000 workers by 2035. The two associations argued that alongside immigration, mothers and the elderly should work more for longer.
According to projections from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), between 2024 and 2035 around 297.000 employees in Switzerland are expected to retire, while 163.000 extra jobs will have to be added to the market to maintain the “prosperity of recent years.” This means that by 2035, the alpine nation will be short of around 460.000 employees as it currently stands.
EconomieSuisse and the Employers’ Association said that “the shortage of labour will be a major challenge” for Switzerland in the future. They added that while international companies and domestic firms are struggling to fill high-demand jobs at the moment, increasing retirements among the Baby Boomer generation will eventually lead to “a shortage of labour in general.”
While the current free movement agreement with the EU has been "an important success factor for Switzerland," both associations agree that it has led to political friction. This has manifested itself most clearly among the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and their No 10 Million Switzerland! initiative.
Amid the fastest population growth seen since the 1960s, many right-wing groups have called for migration numbers to be further limited. They argue that current levels of immigration are putting too much pressure on the housing market and public services - despite evidence to suggest that expats pay more into Swiss social security than they get out.
For the two associations, the calls to limit immigration “are not the right approach” as they ignore just how pressing the shortage of labour is and jeopardise the country’s good relations with the EU. However, while access to migrant labour is “crucial”, both wrote that immigration cannot be relied on alone because of the political pressure.
Specifically, the two associations called for women, “especially mothers”, to work more hours. According to the latest FSO data, while the number of women in the workforce has more than doubled in the last half-century, 58 percent of women only work part-time.
However, they conceded that for their goals to succeed, the government needed to do more to make work more attractive. For women, they called on greater spending on childcare services so that mothers can afford to get back to work.
Though not mentioned by the study, addressing the wage inequality between men and women, taken in tandem with higher childcare spending, could coax more women into the workforce. The latest FSO data suggests that women earn 18 percent less than men on average, of which 7,8 percent cannot be explained via factors such as varying qualifications, type of job or working hours.
To slow the impact of rising retirements, the report also called for greater workplace participation of people over retirement age. In order to do this, they argued that Swiss companies and the state must ensure it is "financially attractive to pursue gainful employment beyond the ordinary retirement age".