Employment and incomePanorama
The panorama offers an overview of key developments on the topic « Employment and income ». This pdf file features many tables and graphics and is free to download.
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Panorama for "Employment and Income"
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269 KB |
Employment and income from employment: Panorama
(xx-e-00.01-pan-03)
Swiss Federal Statistical Office FSO
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2010
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- Click on the chart to enlarge!
Excerpt
The industrial sector, which employed almost half the workforce in the 1960s, is becoming ever less significant. Today (2008), approximately 73% of employed persons work in the service sector.
This trend has been seen in all advanced industrial countries, and is mainly a consequence of technological progress (automation of manufacturing processes) and globalisation, which has resulted in the outsourcing of manufacturing to low-wage countries.
The panorama also includes:
- Unemployment: In the past decade, one fifth of economically active persons (19%) have experienced unemployment, albeit mostly for a short time. But during periods of recession, more people spend more time looking for a job, and the long-term unemployment rate is growing.
- Foreigners: Foreign workers are an important factor in the Swiss labour market. The strong economic growth of the second half of the last century would not have been possible without the influx of ‘guest workers’. Since the 1960s, their share of the labour force has always exceeded 20%; today it is 27 %. Foreign workers are particularly well represented in the industrial sector (2009: 36%; service sector: 26%).
- Wages: On average, in 2008 Swiss employees earned around CHF 5823 (median; gross, including 13th-month wage, with part-time employees converted to full-time). One in ten employees earned more than CHF 10,538 and one in ten less than CHF 3848.
- Part-time employment: Part-time work has become increasingly significant in recent years. Today (2009), 33% of employed persons work part-time; in 1970, the figure was only 12%.
Last updated: 30.03.2010
