Criticism of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by Swiss unions intensified in 2007 after the Court ruled against workers in the Laval case in Sweden. Latvian workers were being paid less than the minimum wage on a construction site in Sweden. In protest, local workers blockaded the site. However, the CJEU […]
Drug addicts entitled to disability welfare, rules Switzerland’s highest court
Until recently, Swiss case law placed the responsibility for drug addiction on the drug user. Drug addicts only qualified for disability welfare if their addiction was connected with an illness or accident. A recent ruling on a case by the Federal Tribunal, Switzerland’s highest court, changes this. The case involved a man in Zurich dependent […]
Switzerland has highest underemployment in Europe
In 2018, 830,000 people in Switzerland were unable to find the work they wanted, according the Federal Statistical Office. While 243,000 were looking but not immediately available and 231,000 were unemployed, most (356,000) were underemployed – working but unable to find as many hours of work as they’d like. The additional hours sought by underemployed […]
Swiss central bank under pressure as franc rises
Yesterday, the Swiss franc reached its highest level against the euro in two years. The CHF/EUR exchange rate reached 1.097 on 24 July 2019, a rate not seen since early 2017. Upward pressure on the franc is partly being driven by expectations of interest rate cuts by eurozone and US central banks. In addition, the […]
Rents have risen in Switzerland’s main cities, according to rental website
The website homegate.ch has compiled data on rental prices in Zurich, Basel, Bern and Geneva over the last two years. The data shows how rents have risen in these cities and presents them on maps showing prices rises by suburb in each of these cities. The data presents rental prices for a 70 square metre […]
Retirement age to rise for women in Switzerland
The Swiss government has been looking at measures to shore up the finances of Switzerland’s pension system for some time. The difference between the official retirement age for women (64) and men (65) is an obvious target. Recently, the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, said it would include increasing the retirement age of women from 64 […]
Number below poverty line rises in Switzerland
In Switzerland, the revenue poverty line is income of CHF 27,108 (US$ 27,490) a year for someone living alone and CHF 47,880 (US$ 48,550) for a family of four. In 2017, the percentage of Switzerland’s population living below the poverty line was 8.2% or 675,000 people. In 2016, the percentage was 7.6%. Those most likely […]
Switzerland has highest percentage of millionaires
A generation ago millionaires were relatively rare. These days it is fairly easy to rub shoulders with one. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) there were 22 million US$ millionaires worldwide in 2018. One driver of the rising number of millionaires is inflation. A million dollars isn’t worth what it once […]
Switzerland number one for expat pay and stability
In 2019, Switzerland came top overall in a ranking of destinations for expatriates to live and work, moving up from eighth last year. Singapore, which had held the top spot for four years in the HSBC’s list of the best countries for expatriates, dropped to second place. Switzerland scored highly on salaries (1st), stability (1st), […]
Swiss parliament insists EU deal return to negotiating table
As the 30 June 2019 expiry date for Swiss-EU stock market equivalence approaches, the National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, has given a clear mandate to extend negotiations over the nation’s relationship with the EU. The negotiations, which began in 2014, are centred on the Framework Agreement, an arrangement designed to replace the patchwork of deals Switzerland […]
