Recent data from Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show recent collective pay rises fall short of inflation.
Switzerland’s key labour agreements between employers and unions included a nominal pay rise of 0.8% for 2022 and a 0.6% nominal rise in minimum wages, wrote the FSO on 31 October 2022.
However, set against inflation of 3% over the year to 31 October 2022, pay is 2.2% lower in real terms.
Sectors getting the biggest pay rises include construction (+1.1%), administration (+1.0%), IT (+0.9%), finance and insurance (+0.9) and car and motorcycle repair (+0.9%). Pay rose less for those in manufacturing (+0.8%), transport (+0.8%) and care (+0.7%).
For inflation hawks these small pay rises will be welcomed as they mean there is less extra money in consumers’ pockets to sustain inflation. However, those struggling to pay their bills will draw little comfort from this.
These wage deals affect around 550,000 employees in Switzerland, roughly 11% of the workforce.
More on this:
FSO article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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