Swiss producer and import prices drop - View of the Basel port by Martin Ruetschi/Photopress

NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss producer and import prices fell sharply in August 2011 says a report published 14 September by the Federal Statistics Office, FSO.

The index for August slid 1.2% from the previous month as a result of a weak economy worldwide, lower prices for paper, oil, gas and chemical products, and the strengthening of the Swiss franc.

The current index is set at 98.5 points.

Prices for domestic products declined 0.8%, import prices fell 2%.

Compared to August 2010, the price index of the total supply of domestic and imported products decreased by 1.9%.

Following the release of the data, the Swiss franc extended losses against the US dollar gaining 0.39% to trade at 0.8838.

Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss unemployment in the second quarter of 2009 jumped from 3.4 percent to 4.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to provisional figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Altogether there were 182,000 unemployed people in Switzerland at the end of June 2009. People aged 25-39 years were hardest hit: their rate of unemployment increased by 1.6 percentage points in a year to 4.7 percent, while the rate for those with only a secondary school education increased 1.3 percentage points to 7.4 percent.

By international comparison, the Swiss unemployment rate is still low, the study points out. European Union unemployment increased from 6.8 percent last year to 8.8 percent in the second quarter of 2009.

Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Real salaries inched up in 2006 by 0.1%. While the increase shows near-stagnation in purchasing power for the Swiss, it is a turnaround: the first increase in the rate of growth since 2001. The rate of growth of real salaries in 2005 was slightly negative, -0.2%. The figures are part of the annual salary statistics released by the Federal Statistical Office (OFS) in Bern Monday.

The nominal salary index shows a 2.1% increase, but with the cost of living up 1.1% real salaries rose only slightly. The real salary figure is a key to consumer spending power, but the annual figures published by the OFS ultimately serve as the basis for salary negotiations for collective contracts in Switzerland every autumn.