According to 20 Minutes, Jacques Bourgeois, the director of the Swiss Farmers’ Union, supports sanctioning farmers who fail to treat their animals properly by cutting the farm subsidies they receive from the Swiss government. In 2015, producer support in Switzerland amounted to around 57% of farm revenues according to an OECD estimate. Swiss farm subsidies are second to only […]
Swiss Rail advert triggers accusation of sexism
According to various newspapers, Swiss Rail placed an advert on a job portal at ETH, a university in Zurich, offering work to cunning vixens, “schlaue Füchsinnen” in German. Successful applicants need to dress up as foxes, including fox tails, and run around train stations with posters informing travellers of alternative train connections. 20 Minutes reported […]
Median Swiss salaries by occupation, region, gender and immigration status
If you have ever wondered how much employees in Switzerland get paid you can check with the online tool Salarium, created by the Swiss government. The information is compiled from a database of numbers from a salary survey done in 2014. After entering five required bits of information: region, business sector, occupation, professional position and working hours, the […]
Swiss franc slides 4 percent in one week
On 24 July 2017, the Swiss franc was 1.101 to the euro. One week later on 31 July 2017 it was 1.145, according to Bloomberg. Over the month it dropped from 1.095 to 1.145, a drop Reuters described as the biggest monthly drop in six years. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been working hard to […]
Swiss trust in news media in decline, says report
A recent report by the Reuters Institute shows a fall in trust in news media in Switzerland. They survey shows that only 46% trust news overall. This is down 4% compared to the year before. The report suggests this is an effect of the debate around ‘fake news’ resulting from the presidential election in the […]
Swiss government to take aim at high Swiss prices
20 Minuten. Switzerland’s Federal Council wants to introduce new measures to lower prices in Switzerland to curb cross-border shopping, something that it says hurts Swiss businesses. Minister for Economic Affairs, Johann Schneider-Ammann, said in an interview with the newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende that he’s working on a package of measures to tackle high retail prices in Switzerland. He thinks […]
Men in Switzerland doing more around the house
The average number of hours spent on domestic tasks by men in Switzerland rose by 10% between 2010 and 2016 according to a report by Switzerland’s federal statistical office. The 17.9 hours dedicated to domestic work by an average man every week was 36% less than that of an average woman. Men however were not […]
Cannabis cigarettes soon available at Coop
20 Minutes. Low-THC cannabis cigarettes will soon be available in the Swiss supermarket chain Coop. Products with less than 1% tétrahydrocannabinol (THC) are not illegal in Switzerland, however their rapid rise in popularity has created controversy. Selling such products in supermarkets is a significant step in the product’s evolution. Swiss cigarette manufacturer Heimat has come up with a […]
Swiss franc more overvalued than 6 months ago according to Economist burger index
The Economist magazine’s 6-monthly Big Mac index shows the Swiss franc to be even more overvalued than it was in January 2017. The index, which compares the US$ price of a Big Mac around the world places Switzerland at the top with a price of US$ 6.74. This is 27.2% more expensive than the United […]
Swiss cheese fraudster gets 3 year prison sentence
20 Minutes. A court in the canton of St. Gallen sentenced a cheese vendor to three years in prison, half of it behind bars. The man was judged guilty of fraudulently using Switzerland’s world-famous Emmental cheese brand and other crimes. In addition to prison, the cheese seller was ordered to pay CHF 1 million in relation to […]
