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Tag Archive: Business & Economy

Swiss health insurance could jump by 9 percent next year

2022-04-10

2022-04-10

According to the newspaper Le Matin Swiss health insurance premiums could rise by 7% to 9%, reported RTS. The future rise in the cost of health insurance is estimated based on data on the rising healthcare costs being passed on to health insurance companies. According to the data, costs rose during the second half of 2021. Across all of 2021 costs were up by 5.1% and the trend appears to have continued.

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Vote against Swiss “Netflix tax” passes signature hurdle

2022-01-25

2022-01-25

In October 2021, Switzerland’s government created a law requiring online streaming services to pay money into a Swiss cinema fund. Under the law, from 2024, streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ will need to pay a levy equivalent to 4% of their Swiss turnover into the fund, which would be spent on producing Swiss films.

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Average Swiss household income reaches nearly 115,000 francs

2021-11-29

2021-11-29

The gross mean household income in Switzerland was CHF 114,984 (US$ 125,000) in 2019, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Overall, 40% of households in Switzerland had income over this mean while 60% brought in less.

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Swiss Federal Council rejects two votes on pension reform

2021-11-28

2021-11-28

This week, the Federal Council rejected two very different initiatives aimed at changing the state pension system. In common with much of the developed world, Switzerland is facing a large gap between the money required to fund state pensions and the money flowing in to pay for them, a challenge driven by increasing life expectancy, a rise in the number of pensioners as the population ages and the way the system is funded.

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Swiss government deficit for 2021 revised down

2021-10-30

2021-10-30

The latest forecast for 2021 shows a deficit of CHF 14.8 billion, down CHF 2.6 billion from an earlier forecast shortfall of CHF 17.4 billion. The deficit is driven mainly by the extraordinary cost of responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Swiss unemployment down, especially among young

2021-10-12

2021-10-12

Unemployment fell from 2.7% to 2.6% in September 2021 in Switzerland, with a sharp drop among those aged 15 to 24, reported RTS. By the end of September 2021, just over 200,000 people were looking for employment in Switzerland according to Switzerland’s standard measure, which is focused on those registered with the official unemployment office, something required to collect unemployment benefits.

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Number of vacant homes in Switzerland drops for first time in 12 years

2021-09-18

2021-09-18

Finding a place to live in Switzerland is difficult. Home availability is low and prices are high. On 13 September 2021, the Federal Statistical Office published data showing a sharp drop in the number of vacant homes since 2020, a development that will make home hunting harder.

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Swiss Unemployment Continues to Fall in May

2021-06-10

2021-06-10

By the end of May 2021, the percentage of Switzerland’s workforce registered as out of work had fallen to 3.1%, down from 3.3% in April 2021. The figures are based on those registered as unemployed at regional employment centres and exclude many of those that have been out of for more than two years and have exhausted their rights to collect unemployment benefits.

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Swiss consumer sentiment nearly back to pre-crisis level

2021-05-07

2021-05-07

The primary reason for the rise in consumer sentiment is a significant improvement in expectations regarding general economic development. This sub-index climbed from -18 points in January to +3 in April, the highest value recorded since autumn 2018, indicating that consumers are expecting the economic recovery to continue over the coming twelve months.

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IMF praises Switzerland’s economic response to the pandemic

2021-04-10

2021-04-10

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Switzerland has economically navigated the Covid-19 pandemic well so far. In 2020, the Swiss economy shrank by 2.9%, far less than many other advanced European economies. France (-8.2%), Germany (-4.9%), Italy (-8.9%) and the UK (-9.9%) all performed far worse.

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Switzerland’s low-income earners hit far harder despite lower Covid-19 infection rates

2021-02-28

2021-02-28

The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit low-income households far harder than those on high incomes, according to a study published by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich.

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Record fall in Swiss hotel occupancy in 2020

2021-02-26

2021-02-26

In 2020, the number of overnight stays in Swiss hotels fell by 40% to 23.7 million, a fall of 15.8 million nights compared to 2019. The fall, driven by Covid-19, is the largest fall in overnight stays in Switzerland since the end of the 1950s, according to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office.

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6 billion franc Swiss National Bank payment after new agreement

2021-02-02

2021-02-02

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Finance (FDF) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB), Switzerland’s central bank, have signed a new agreement on how SNB profits can be distributed.

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Swiss rents and property prices up in 2020 due to pandemic

2021-01-08

2021-01-08

The pandemic had a significant impact on Swiss real estate prices in 2020, according to industry experts.

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Swiss government promises one billion francs for Covid hit businesses

2020-11-22

2020-11-22

This week, Switzerland’s federal government decided to increase aid money to Covid hit businesses to CHF 1 billion.

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Rising numbers struggling to pay rent in Switzerland

2020-10-05

2020-10-05

Nearly 44% of renters surveyed said that coming up with the money pay rent is now harder than it was before Covid-19, according to ASLOCA, a renters’ association.

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Swiss Unemployment Falls in June 2020

2020-07-11

2020-07-11

The number unemployed in Switzerland at 30 June 2020, fell 5,709 in June to 159,289, according to the State Secretariat for the Economy (SECO). Switzerland’s unemployment rate fell from 3.4% to 3.2%. However, despite improving on May 2020, the number unemployed was 53,067 (+54.6%) higher than at the end of June 2019.

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Swiss have mixed feelings about working from home, according to survey

2020-05-29

2020-05-29

Working from home is a mixed bag of pros and cons for most Swiss who were surveyed by gfs.bern in March and April 2020. But it worked for most. In 2019, before the outbreak of the corona pandemic, around 1.1 million employees in Switzerland occasionally worked from home.

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Unemployment up sharply in April in Switzerland

2020-05-10

2020-05-10

The unemployment rate in Switzerland rose to 3.3% in April 2020, up from 2.9% the month before, a rise of nearly 14%. By 30 April 2020, there were 153,413 people registered as unemployed at Switzerland’s regional placement offices. Young workers were the hardest hit. Unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 rose by 18.1% compared to March 2020 and by 61.3% compared to April 2019.

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Coronavirus: Swiss schools and other establishments set to reopen

2020-05-01

2020-05-01

On 29 April 2020, Switzerland’s government announced plans to allow schools and other establishments to reopen on Monday 11 May 2020. From 11 May 2020, shops, restaurants, markets, museums, libraries, primary and lower secondary schools and sports training centres will be allowed to reopen. In addition, public transport will operate according to the standard timetable, announced the government.

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