Facts about industries, wages and origin: how important foreign workers are to Switzerland

With the current level of immigration, it is likely that for the first time more than nine million people will be living in Switzerland by the end of the year. This intensity causes stress and triggers anxiety. For years SVP has been convinced that Switzerland, an island in the middle of mainland Europe, is full. And wrong and too many strangers coming.

On Saturday, Switzerland’s largest party wants to launch a sustainability initiative entitled “No 10 million Swiss”. Blick provides the most important facts about foreign workers in Switzerland.

Switzerland’s dependence on foreign workers is enormous: foreigners make up almost a third of the country’s workforce – that’s more than 1.75 million people. Trend: increasing over the years. There is something else that has increased significantly: the number of cross-border travelers coming to work every day. They currently make up 21.9 percent of foreign workers in Switzerland. Most work in border cantons such as Ticino, Valais, Basel or Geneva. If they all stayed at home for one day, the economy in the affected areas would come to a standstill.

Without foreign workers, the population of tourism cantons in the country would have drastically decreased: 49 percent of workers in the hospitality industry are from abroad. Without them, a large part of the Swiss working population would have to cook at home for lunch. Foreign workers are also actively participating in the construction of the Switzerland of tomorrow. The construction industry employs 35 percent of foreigners. At least 23 percent in health and social services. Without foreign workers, the Swiss health system would be on the verge of collapse.

This is why foreigners currently fill vacancies in jobs that many Swiss find too tiring or where the pay is too low. On the other hand, about half of the immigrants who came to Switzerland through the free movement of persons from the EU receive higher education and undertake important jobs in the IT sector. This creates other well-paying jobs that Swiss people often work for. Therefore, the Secretariat of State for Economic Affairs concludes that the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons is a win for Switzerland.

In May, foreigners accounted for 50.2% of the 88,076 unemployed people in Switzerland. This means that foreigners are unemployed much more often. However, unemployment figures only include those registered with a regional employment center (RAV). The unemployment rate, which was 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023, is more significant. The unemployment rate also includes people who are not registered with the RAV, for example because they have been deported before. It is 3.2 percent for Swiss nationals and 7.2 percent for foreign nationals. The rate is almost twice as high for people from third countries.

The main reason for the significantly high unemployment among foreigners is probably the level of education. Unemployment rate is 8.5 percent for people with the highest level of secondary education level 1.

It is 4 percent in 2 seconds, while a higher education degree is only 3.2 percent. And more than every four people employed from abroad have only a secondary education diploma. Their share is therefore 2.5 times the share of the Swiss workforce. This usually applies to workers from southern or eastern Europe and third countries. The lower education level is also reflected in average salaries: when calculated for a full-time position, Swiss people earn an average of CHF 6,988 per month, while foreigners earn only CHF 6,029.