BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Statistical Offices new figures for average earnings in Switzerland show women making barely any progress in catching up with men for equal pay. The average salary in 2010 was CHF5,979, but the spread was large: women made on average CHF5221 and men CHF6,397.
Differences are explained to some extent by different qualification levels and years of service, but women account for the vast majority of fulltime workers who earn less than CHF4,000 a month, in part because 66 percent of women work either in retail sales or the hotel and restaurant industry, in jobs with low skills required.
10% of workers, senior managers, earn CHF22,755/month
Nearly 11 percent of workers make less than CHF4,000 a month, while 10 percent, top-level managers, make more than CHF22,755 a month.
The new figures show that the most qualified workers saw their salaries increase by 12.3 percent during the past decade, 2000-2010, while the least qualified workers saw their pay go up by 9 percent.
Management paychecks vary enormously depending on the industry: CHF14,919 in insurance, CHF16,724 in banking, CHF17,156 in pharmaceuticals, CHF22,000 in the tobacco industry. The same level of qualification pays on average CHF10,324 in the machine industry, CHF9,750 in healthcare and CHF8,138 in construction.
Source: Swiss National Bank, 16 June 2011 (click on image to view larger)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Put the Swiss banking crisis in the past tense, with the Swiss National Bank’s new report on the state of Swiss banking showing that in 2010 the gross profit for the country’s 320 banks was CHF18.9 billion, a roughly 50 percent improvement over 2009.
The aggregate balance sheet for all Swiss banks in 2010 rose by 1.7% to CHF 2.71 billion.
The overall figures hide a significant difference, with 53 banks showing a loss, four more than in 2009. The loss was mainly due to a “substantial depreciation of tangible assets amounting to CHF 9.4 billion”, says the SNB.
The big banks played a key role in the improvement, says the SNB in a statement issued Thursday 16 June. The data “shows that this result was significantly influenced by the big banks, which reported improved trading income, higher extraordinary income and an increase in depreciation of tangible assets.”
Swiss franc’s appreciation reduced value of foreign balance sheet items
Nick Hayek, Swatch Group
Biel/Bienne and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swatch Tuesday 1 March confirmed its strong forecast for 2011 worldwide watch sales by saying it plans to hire 1,000-1,500 workers in 2011, at its Swiss plants, to keep up with demand. The company added 1,600 new employees, worldwide, in 2010.
Chief executive Nick Hayek told Le Temps newspaper in an interview that the company expects to have sales of CHF7 billion in 2011, up from the CHF6.44b in 2010 sales, and that it is looking to hire 1,000-1,500 people in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Granges, Boncourt, Sion and in Ticino.
The company expects to have delivery logjams, even with the new personnel, for some of its hottest-selling brands such as Longines, Tissot, Swatch and Calvin Klein.
Hayek says that January 2011 was the company’s fourth best-ever month, and it is normally the lowest sales month of the year, and this despite the strong Swiss franc.
Strong trade with Asia, Latin America; watch and machining industries recovering
Swiss exports, November 2010, by industry, compared to November 2009 (source: Swiss Federal Statistics Office)
(video, Hublot watchmaking) Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss foreign trade improved in November 2010 compared to November 2009, with exports of CHF17.5 billion up 7.4 percent and imports of CHF15.6b up 11.3 percent, both in real terms, adjusted for inflation.
The trade balance, with a surplus of CHF1.9b, was 5 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier. The trade balance in October was more than 13 percent down from a year earlier, and in September 8 percent, indicating a closing gap as Swiss foreign trade rebounds from the global economic crisis.
Euro at record low against franc Monday
The news comes as the euro Monday 20 December reached an all-time low against the Swiss franc, dipping to CHF1.2636 at one point, report Dow Jones and Le Temps. The dollar was at CHF0.96 in trading Tuesday (Reuters chart, dollar/franc since October 2010).
For 2010 as a whole, rounded figures show that Swiss exports have risen 7 percent and imports 8 percent. The trade balance of CHF18.76 at the end of November was down 1.2 percent compared to 2009, for the year to date.
Watchmakers at Hublot in Nyon, part of a sought-after highly skilled group
The watch industry was the main driver in November, with a 30 percent increase in exports, well up from a year earlier. Metal-working, machining and electronic industries also showed good growth, but the clothing industry continued to perform weakly, with exports lower than a year earlier.
Le Temps reports 21 December that while the watch industry is hiring again, and more than 700 jobs are currently advertised in the Jura region which is the heartland of the Swiss watch industry, some of the companies are still struggling to recover.
Buildings go up, but not construction salaries, in Switzerland in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Travail.Suisse, a union that represents 170,000 workers in three major industries, says it is “satisfied” with salaries negotiated for 2011, up to 3 percent in some cases. The construction business is the only one where negotiators have failed to agree, with companies recommending a 1 percent increase, turned down by the unions. Travail.Suisse would like to see workers continue to make up for weak cost of living increases from 2004 to 2008, when Swiss GDP rose by mor ethan 14 percent, but salaries were barely increased. Real purchasing power for workers rose by 2.6 percent in 2009 thanks to salary increases that outpaced the minimal rise in the cost of living.
Next year should help workers catch up, the group says, with a cost of living increase forecast for 0.7 percent.
Links to other sites: Travail.Suisse (Fre), TSR (Fre)
Creditors, employees would have less protection, companies could more easily revive
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A contentious Swiss law could soon end, if the Federal Council has its way. The government Wednesday 8 September announced it wants to end the obligation for a company taking over a bankrupt one to take on all the employees of the failed firm. The matter now moves to parliament.
The idea behind the change, inspired by the failure of Swissair, would be to make it easier for a bankrupt company to restart under new ownership.
To watch or not to watch, that is the question
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One of the summer’s hottest debates could take place in the office: to let or not let the staff watch the World Cup football matches. Two IMD buiness school research fellows in Lausanne offer some pros and cons in IMD’s latest online debate. Karsten Jonsen says yes, great idea, arguing that a sense of “belonging” is important for individuals and companies can help foster this.
“It is important in office environments that people are able to make social connections and “bond” outside their normal work tasks. This helps build trust in a team, which can lead to smoother and more effective collaboration and higher job satisfaction. Social events like the World Cup bring people together and help augment the team spirit within the organization.”
On the other hand, says Willem Smit, “Allowing people to take time out to watch football during working hours is simply too costly, untimely and unfair.” He calculates that lost work time during the tournament will come to at least $10 million and possibly as much as $20m. And why stop at football, he asks. Why not be fair to those who are not big football fans and let them watch Roland Garros tennis or Wimbledon?
Ed. note: IMD’s Great Debate page allows you to comment and join in the debate.
Muttenz, Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Chemicals company Clariant has announced layoffs of 500 employees, 400 of which are in Switzerland, as it continues to restructure. The company suffered sharp losses in 2008, largely due to a sudden drop in the auto industry. The company has since then shed more than 3,000 jobs. It is now moving its textile dyes and textile chemicals division to Asia. The company employed 1,200 people in Switzerland at the end of 2009.
The company’s sales were down 18 percent in Swiss francs in 2009 over the previous year, to CHF 6.6 billion. Clariant reduced its net debt to CHF545 million from CHF1.2b at the end of 2008. Net debt divided by equity was at 29 percent by the end of 2009, well down from the 61% at the end of 2008.
Foreigners at top end out-earn Swiss
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Top managers’ salaries in Switzerland have continued to rise “sharply”, especially in the financial field, since 2006, and the spread between Switzerland’s lowest paid workers and highest increased, a preliminary government statistical report shows. Well-qualified foreign workers and those with long-term C residence permits out-earn their Swiss counterparts while foreigners with lower qualifications and some border workers earn less than Swiss people in comparable jobs.
Salaries, bonuses for insurers, bankers up sharply 2006-2008
The Swiss Statistical Office Tuesday 17 November issued its preliminary report on salaries in 2008. Salaries remained mostly stable, it shows, with the financial sector an exception: salaries and bonuses both rose, with top managers’ salaries increasing 38.8 percent from 2006-2008, compared to an 11.6 percent increase for top managers in all other fields.
Geneva, a city that gives you more money after taxes, and lets you spend it quickly
Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Zurich among the top five priciest cities in the world, along with Oslo, Copenhagen and Toky, according to a study by bank UBS comparing prices and earning in 73 cities around the world. Salaries are highest in Switzerland, Denmark and the US, with workers in Geneva and Zurich having the highest net incomes in the world. The average employee in Delhi, Manila, Jakarta and Mumbai earns less than one-fifteenth of Swiss hourly wages after taxes.
Prices for food in Switzerland are about 45 percent more for food on average than in the rest of Western Europe but to balance it out “no other city allows workers to take home more income at the end of the month than Zurich and Geneva.”
UBS notes that the comparisons are greatly affected by currency fluctuations. London fell 20 places in the cost categories thanks to the pound’s “precipitous devaluation” in the first half of 2009.
Zurich, Switzerland and New York, USA (GenevaLunch) – UBS has sold 55 of its Wealth Management unit branches in the US to Stifel Financial, which says it is paying the Swiss bank $27 million, due in the third quarter of 2009, plus a mix of other payments dependent to some extent on performance. The group will take on at least some of UBS’s 320 financial advisors, but the exact number has not yet been determined, it says in a press release.
