A recent survey suggests that half of Swiss residents are satisfied with their financial situation while 6% said they have trouble making ends meet. In addition, 28% expect their finances to improve in 2019, although fewer women (25%) than men (33%) expect this. 18% expect their finances to worsen and 54% expect no change. Views […]
Swiss organic farm output doubles
Between 1999 and 2017 the amount of organic food produced on Swiss farms more than doubled. In 1999, 5.3% of Switzerland’s farm output was organic. By 2017 this figure had risen to 11.7%. In 1999, Swiss farms produced CHF 562 million worth of organic food. In 2017, they produced CHF 1.2 billion. Consumers are spending […]
Swiss unemployment lowest in 10 years
Switzerland’s unemployment rate, now 2.6%, hasn’t been so low for 10 years, according to the latest figures from Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). A weakening of the Swiss franc helped boost Switzerland’s economic growth, creating more jobs. The unemployment rate among young workers (15-24) dropped 0.7% to 2.4% as did unemployment among the […]
Lenders pay to lend money to Switzerland
On 28 December 2018, Italy issued government bonds maturing in 2028 at an effective interest rate of 2.7%1. Interest rates like this combined with the scale of Italian public debt (157% of GDP) mean Italian taxpayers spend more on public debt interest than they do on education. In 2015, Italy spent 4.1% of GDP on […]
Question of the week: do we need a retirement age?
Reaching the official retirement age1 is an important milestone for many people. Some look forward to it while others dread it. Some dreading it would prefer to continue working either because they enjoy their work or would like the extra income. Some feel they are being systematically and unfairly labelled too old to work. A […]
Swiss VAT now applied to more foreign online purchases from 1 January 2019
In 2016, Switzerland’s government decided to tighten the VAT exemption on imported purchases, a move that affects most online orders from foreign retailers. The new rules took effect on 1 January 2019 – they were originally planned for 1 January 2018 but systems and processes were not ready. Until the beginning of this year, any […]
Police warn of fake Swiss franc notes
Since the beginning of December 2018 more and more counterfeit 100 Swiss franc notes have been appearing in the Swiss canton of Valais in and around Sion and Conthey. The fake notes, which the local Police say can be spotted if compared to real ones, have been making their way into circulation via shopping centres, […]
Switzerland could see vote on laws to ban age discrimination
Heidi Joos, the managing director of the organisation Avenir 50 plus, and others, plan to launch a referendum aimed at introducing laws against age discrimination in Switzerland. Age discrimination in recruitment is common in Switzerland. Some job search websites allow filtering by age, and job adverts sometimes specify applicants be below a particular age. The […]
Swiss health insurance deductibles to be locked in for 3 years
One way to reduce the cost of compulsory Swiss health insurance is to choose a high deductible. Currently, some people do this and then postpone treatment until they’ve switched to a lower deductible the following year. Recently, Switzerland’s parliament voted 113 against 60 in favour of locking in deductibles for three years to reduce this […]
When a discount is not a discount
When shoppers see a discount they typically assume the original price is correct. However, this is not always the case, as some hidden price labels have revealed. This week Ochsner, one of the Swiss retailers caught with suspect price discount labels, was fined CHF 4,000, according to the newspaper 20 minutes. Tandis que Manor dément […]
