NYON, SWITZERLAND – Novartis will not close its Prangin site and all jobs there will be saved, the company will be investing more money in the plant, canton Vaud will give the company a tax break and some of the unused space will be developed into housing. Tough talks between Novartis workers and managers, the town of Nyon and canton Vaud resulted in a series of agreements unveiled Tuesday afternoon 17 January in Nyon.
The company’s announcement 25 October that it would be cutting 1,100 jobs in Switzerland, some 300 of them in Nyon, was met with anger at the time, but the company agreed to talks, with local and regional authorities intervening.
Some of the Basel jobs will also be saved as part of the agreements.
Novartis announced 13 January that it is cutting 2,000 jobs in the US.
Ed. note: La Cote provides details online; the local newspaper usually protects most of its news behind a paywall, but this is free of charge.
WHO headquarters in Geneva
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The World Health Organization in Geneva confirmed Friday 28 October that staff cuts of some 300 posts, announced in May, will go ahead: 167 of these are fixed posts and the rest mainly short-term contracts at this point.
But more job cuts and rumours spread by Swiss-based media of staff being shifted to Africa are just that: false alarms, says Christy Feig, spokeswoman. Feig says the rumours appear to be based on misunderstandings of numbers announced earlier in the year coupled with confusion over the role of a special “reform” session of the executive council of the WHO 1-5 November in Geneva. The two are separate.
The confusion over numbers probably arose from one journalist inadvertently counting some of the same numbers twice, then other numbers being wrongly added by yet other journalists, the WHO has determined after trying to get to the bottom of unfounded rumours that up to 1,000 staff were being moved to Africa.
The job cuts are part of the cyclical financial problems of WHO, whose funding has long been a problem for the group. Only about 25 percent of the UN agency’s budget coming from must-pay “assessed contributions” from member states and the other 75 percent from voluntary contributions. The WHO knows where about 40 percent of its funding will come from at the start of each two-year budget period, and its programme planning is necessarily done separately from budgeting, given the large gap.
The ongoing global economic crisis, with a resulting drop in voluntary contributions, and the Swiss franc’s high exchange rate, lie behind the UN organization’s staff cuts, from 2,400 to 2,100 in Geneva by the end of this year. There is no talk of moving staff to other countries for either of those reasons, Feig says. There was some discussion earlier this year among one unit that works in Africa about possibly moving some staff to Africa to be closer to field operations, but the decision was made not to move any of the 65 members of its staff.
Staff moves, but for operational rather than financial reasons, are a small part of the large agenda the special meeting next week will cover. The meeting is devoted to reviewing the need for reform of the WHO in a number of areas. Feig points out that the health body was founded in 1948 and the executive committee agreed in May that the time is ripe to review “how the landscape has changed,” she says. “Do we need to refocus programme priorities” in light of these changes and how does the WHO recognize the many other groups working in the field of global health. “How do we give these other groups in put, how do we make sure more voices are heard?”
The reform discussions will also look at managerial and human resources issues, she says, with some calls for more transparency and accountability. The WHO would like to see the 40 percent known funding “driven up to 70 percent”, in part because the current funding situation probably drives the health body to rely too much on short-term contracts. Next week’s meeting will consider how the WHO can best provide more core long-term expertise. One part of this could include moving some staff into the field, but for now the option is hypothetical, part of a larger debate – and in any event not an option before the 2013-14 budget.
The WHO is running a budget deficit of some $330 million out of an annual budget of $2.2 billion.
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – UBS, Switzerland’s largest banks, will cut 3,500 jobs by the end of 2013, it announced Tuesday morning 23 August, in an effort to reduce expenses by CHF2 billion. The news has been expected for some weeks and, says the bank, is in line with its statement in July about costs.
The cuts are needed, says UBS, to improve operating efficiency. “Of the expected 3,500 staff reductions, approximately 45% will come from the Investment Bank, 35% from Wealth Management & Swiss Bank, 10% from Global Asset Management, and 10% from Wealth Management Americas.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Europe’s largest retail bank, HSBC in the UK, announced job cuts 1 August that will reached 30,000 by the end of 2013, joining Switzerland’s UBS and Credit Suisse, as well as other large banks that have announced major staffing cuts in the past two weeks as financial markets fail to bounce back as expected from the 2008-09 global economic crisis. Credit Suisse expects to cut 2,000 jobs and UBS has not yet confirmed the number it will eliminate.
The HSBC job cuts were announced along with financial results that show a 36 percent increase in profits to $9.22 billion from $6.76 billion a year earlier. The bank is preparing to meet higher capital requirements under new Basel III world bank regulations.
Business Week reports that HSBC’s proportion of profits from Asian business rose to 76 percent, up nearly 10 percent compared to a year ago, while the share of its expenses based in Asia were just over 46 percent. Job cuts will occur in its offices worldwide, but the bank is likely to be hiring in Asia.
Swiss green economy's fastest growing area is construction, says WWF (photo, ©2011 iStockphoto)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The green economy is growing at twice the rate of the rest of the economy in Switzerland, figures published Tuesday 21 June by WWF Switzerland show. The green economy accounts for turnover of CHF29 billion and 116,000 jobs. It is expected to add another 53,000 jobs by 2020, with turnover reaching CHF57b.
The figures, compared to 2001, show an annual growth rate of 6.3 percent, compared to 3.2 percent for the Swiss economy as a whole in the past 10 years, according to “Environmental markets in Switzerland – outlook for the economy and jobs”, a report issued by the WWF training centre. “This level of growth requires developing matching environmental competences in professional fields,” says Helene Sironi, head of continuing education for the WWF.
The numbers look even more impressive, says the organization, when federal figures from a study on the Cleantech economy are added: CHF49b in turnover and 260,000 jobs, or 6.2 percent of the Swiss labour market.
The fastest growing green area is environmental construction, at 47 percent a year. Sustainable mobility is one of the weaker areas, growing at only 3 percent a year.
Report summary in French, WWF (3.9MB pdf)
The Swedish Millennium Films, based on the novels by Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson, have generated an increase in jobs, marketing, tourism and trade in the Stockholm area, according to a report (pdf) published by the Swedish-based Cloudberry group in collaboration with Oxford Research. They have also saved the city several million dollars in advertising.
The films have been watched by 20 million people, the region has become more popular and tourism is up: to reach an equivalent audience with purchased advertising time, according to Business Wire (BW), the Stockholm region would have to spend nearly CHF144 million.
Production costs of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”, and “The Girl who Played with Fire” totaled around CHF13 million for wages and services such as catering, housing, transportation, and location rental.
Olof Zetterberg, chief executive of Stockholm Business Region, told BW. “This study confirms that film is also a strategic tool for marketing Stockholm internationally.”
Anders Ekegren, chairman of Filmregion Stockholm-Mälardalen argues in BW that “the study shows that film is virtually unbeatable when it comes to marketing a region and a city. We also see the power of films to create jobs and economic growth at the local and regional levels.”
Links to other sites: Business Wire, Earth Times
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.
One-quarter of jobs to go
The BBC’s long-discussed budget cuts have finally hit, and it means that five countries will lose World Service broadcasts entirely, while in some other countries programming will be reduced. The five are: Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services plus English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa.
Audiences are expected to fall by 30 million to 150 million. The BBC is looking to save £46 million a year.
The cuts, needed to meet the government-mandated savings of 16 percent, involve the loss of 480 jobs initially, with a total of 650 within four years, out of 2,400 jobs currently.
The BBC in September 2010 had already announced programming cuts that including dropping daily hour-long special coverage of Wimbledon tennis and the Proms music programmes.
Some of the cuts will be offset, the BBC says, by be looking for partnerships in India, Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa. It also plans to increase online videos.
The BBC World Service began operating in 1932.
Links to other sites: China Digital Times on the impact on Chinese BBC service, Guardian, Rapid TV News, Telegraph
Canton Geneva in the distance and the city of Geneva with its jet d'eau fountain
Update 17:00 / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating institution, at the end of 2010 gave the canton an AA-/stable rating. The full report, in English, was made available this week by the canton. S&P’s assessment for Geneva was mostly upbeat: “The rating on the Republic and Canton of Geneva in Switzerland reflects Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ view of Geneva’s very stable, predictable, and supportive institutional framework; the canton’s recent sustained solid budgetary performance; and its large debt reduction since 2006.”
S&P’s notes that while the canton has finished paying out for the losses of BCG that resulted from a mismanagement scandal in the 1990s, a weakness is its “still sizable unfunded pension liabilities, even though a reform of public pension pensions is under way”.
The forecast for Geneva is relatively bright, with a short-term dip in the tax revenues that make up the bulk of the canton’s resources, expected to fall by 13 percent in 201o compared to 2009 as the impact of the economic recession is felt. But S&P’s expects this revenue to pick up again in 2011-2012, “even if at a low pace. Despite management’s strong commitment to control costs, this expected trend in tax revenues will likely result in a slightly negative operating margin over 2010-2012.”
Source: Standard & Poor’s, reproduced with permission
Economic profile of Geneva shows wealth, higher wages, far higher than average foreign population
S&P’s report profiles the city using a rich set of statistics that include these details:
Zurich, one of three Swiss cities where JP Morgan will expand its operations
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s preeminence as a banking powerhouse does not seem to be fading; a Tages-Anzeiger article published today 5 January says giant financial services firm JP Morgan will be bringing hundreds of new jobs to Geneva, Zoug and Zurich.
Martin Schütz, Co-Chairman of JP Morgan in Switzerland is quoted in the article as saying their work force will grow to 1,000 employees; that is an increase of almost 400 new jobs from now until 2012.
“Switzerland has always been at the heart of our international finance strategies” said Schütz. “Our customers benefit from a strong currency, minimal inflation, prudent national banking and high quality service,” he added.
Zoug is becoming an important market in JP Morgan’s financial strategies as the town is developing into an international trade centre of raw materials and metals.
In December 2010 JP Morgan in London also expanded operations thus reaffirming the company’s previous statements that Europe is becoming an important market for its expanding financial and trade services.
JP Morgan Chase’s corporate headquarters are in New York City.
Government education subsidies keep fees low, even for foreign students
Parked and working hard at the Rolex Learning Center, EPFL in Lausanne
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One-fifth of Swiss university students are foreign, with the figure climbing for graduate students, yet university fees remain low in Switzerland thanks to government subsidies. Parents pay about half of their adult children’s university costs. New federal statistics published Tuesday 23 November show that only 10 percent of the cost of attending graduate school is financed by scholarships or student loans.
The figures are part of a European-wide survey, Eurostudent, to be published in coming days, according to Bern. Thirty countries participated in the study.
Living at home saves students’ one-third of costs
Three-quarters of Swiss graduate school students work, and their families finance at least 50 percent of their costs.
The bulk of working students are employed during the school year as well as during school holidays.
Students at the HES, or specialized schools, are most often employed in a field linked to their studies.
Graduate students spend on average an additional CHF1,870 a month if they are paying rent away from their parents’ home, or CHF1,210 if they are living at home. Swiss graduate school tuition fees range from CHF1,000-8,000 a year, with foreign students often but not always paying the higher fees.
EPFL’s Aebischer: we need more foreign students
EPFL: Rolex Learning Center has cubicle's for teamwork
The relatively low fees, compared to those in the UK and US, for example, are due largely to government subsidies, but there is little outcry over subsidizing international students. A recent change in the law now gives international students six months to find a job before their permits run out at the end of their studies. Some students, notably engineers, are in short supply and companies who hire them are anxious to see schools like EPFL, the Lausanne polytechnic, turn out more of them.
“There’s a real penurie,” says Denis Piaget, chief executive officer of Etel, a company in Motier, canton Neuchatel. It is the world’s leading supplier of direct drive and motion systems, whose high-tech industry clients include makers of semi-conductors, and it has long worked closely with EPFL. “Our products are unique, so we’re constantly innovating, and our clients have to be companies that are able and ready to invest in that. It’s tough to find really well qualified engineers who can work at this level, so strong academic centres are crucial for us.”
Marketing boss, deputy director general posts axed
The marketing chief of the BBC, Sharon Baylay, is being dismissed and will not be replaced, and two board members are leaving, the British public media organization has announced. Baylay’s is one of the first significant departures in a series of expected job cuts that are part of the company’s efforts to reduce senior management by 18 percent and pay for the group by 25 percent, reports the Guardian. The announcement follows shortly after the news that the post of deputy director general will end once Mark Byford, 52, whose salary is £475,000, leaves the job in June 2011, according to the BBC.
Ikea’s grand opening, Geneva-Vernier store 15 September, follows years of wrangling
Ikea Vernier Wednesday morning, before the crowds hit the grand opening
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The grand opening breakfast Wednesday morning 15 September at Ikea in Vernier was just the right kind: copious, with a wide selection of choices. Copious because it accompanied, Swiss-style, numerous speakers who all started by naming and thanking individually each dignitary present.
A wide selection because this is, after all, Ikea. And if the blue and yellow everywhere, including of course Ambassador Per Thoeresson’s tie, wasn’t a clue that Ikea is Swedish at heart, the glass of Schnapps at 07:00, at the end of breakfast, was a giveaway.
Sweden's ambassador to Switzerland, Per Thoeresson
“For me, like any Swede, Ikea represents Swedish values, Swedish culture,” Thoeresson told several hundred early morning breakfast guests, who thanked Sweden’s “other ambassador”, the home furnishings giant which has become an institution for foreigners in Switzerland. “It’s no accident that Switzerland was chosen as the first location in Europe outside Sweden. Switzerland is in the middle of Europe, Sweden and Switzerland share many values—including a sense of design, of functionality.” He added that the two countries “have become a little closer” thanks to Ikea.
It wasn’t always clear this would be the case.
This is the eighth Ikea store in Switzerland, but the 10-year battle to open it prompted one Geneva politician to say over breakfast that “Ikea in Geneva at one point meant ‘obstruction’ but today it’s a good example of working together.” The commune of Vernier repeatedly refused to approve the project, saying it needed guarantees the store wasn’t giving: a major concern was the potential for traffic problems. Protestors complained about future pollution and the canton of Geneva and Vernier commune battled over the number of exits from the store.
Burying the hatchet: what Ikea will bring Vernier, Geneva
The commune finally accepted the project in October 2008, after Ikea agreed to numerous conditions, which increased the bill considerably, and construction moved ahead. Final cost: CHF109.4 million, when the attic area is included.
Opening day shows a store that had 7,000 applications for 300 jobs. Eighty percent of those hired are from canton Geneva and 40 percent from Vernier, making Ikea a key employer in the canton with Switzerland’s highest unemployment rate.
The 31,000m2 (attic included) store has a parking lot with 850 places, but it has made a serious effort to discourage shoppers’ use of private cars: it’s easy to reach using bicycle lanes and public transport: buses 6, 19, 23, 28, 57, Y and trams 14 and 16, train Regio R from Cornavin. If you’re buying furniture you can’t put on the bus, you have two relatively green options: home delivery and Mobilité natural gas rental vehicles.
Ikea is expected to bring the commune tax revenues of up to CHF800,000.
Ikea is Ikea is Ikea, but this is Geneva, where living space is at a premium
Inside the store, everything is familiar to anyone who has visited Ikea elsewhere. It is slightly smaller than the store in Aubonne and the line of merchandise is essentially the same, but the Vernier store caters to a slightly different population. “People in Geneva have a bit more money, but smaller living spaces,” one employee told visitors. The kitchen selection is larger and there are numerous clearly marked sections for people with apartments of 25, 35 or 50 square metres: small spaces.
The rare opportunity to see an Ikea store without customers charmed breakfast guests, but at 09:00 as the grand opening drew near the most impressive sight was scores of employees racing to finish shelves-stocking before the doors opened. And only one protestor showed up.
Ikea Vernier web site, with hours
TSR timeline of Ikea political battle, Vernier-Geneva
Ed. note: GenevaLunch will publish a photo gallery of the new store before it opened, late Wednesday. Watch for the update here!
New university graduates in Britain are facing a tough jobs market, with 7 percent fewer vacancies than a year ago, reports Reuters, based on the most recent information from the Association of Graduate Recruiters in the UK: “Nearly 70 people will be chasing each graduate opening, compared to 49 last year and 31 the year before, the Association of Graduate Recruiters said.” The information comes on the heels of more upbeat prognoses given by recruiters as recently as 21 June, when they said 40 percent of companies were planning to increase their intake and that 50 percent of employers still had openings.
Immigration to Switzerland from 15 EU states fell sharply in 2009
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government has decided not to take up its option to temporarily limit immigration from the 15 older European Union states with whom it signed a free movement of labour agreement in 2007. The option helped get the agreement through parliament at the time, overcoming arguments that the local job market would be swamped. The agreement allows Switzerland to unilaterally call a halt if the number of immigrants rises more than 10 percent above the average for the three previous months, and since it went into effect 1 June 2007 this is the first year the Swiss could exercise the option.
The accord was one of several bilateral agreements signed between Switzerland and the EU, four of whose member countries share its borders.
Swiss fears at the time of a rush into the local job market have died down in the face of the global economic crisis, with fewer jobs available. Bern says that from June 2009 to April 2010, 21.4 percent fewer permits were issued than in the previous year and even for short-term permits the number has fallen by 9.4 percent.
Canadian company Bombardier CHF1.86 billion train deal creates Vaud jobs, will ease passenger crunch
New CFF InterCity trains, scheduled for 2013 Geneva-Zurich
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The good news is that train travel in Switzerland is about to get better, but the bad news is that it won’t happen fast enough to suit many impatient Swiss, who travel on average 2,422 km a year by train, making them the world leaders in train use.
The CFF Swiss rail company has just bought 59 new trains with the first rollout in 2013. The purchase of 36,000 new train seats is just a start: in the next 20 years the CFF will need to replace 120,000 seats and add an additional 60,000 because of growing passenger demand and new lines.
Bombardier, a Canadian company, fought off Siemens and Stadler Rail to get a CHF1.9 billion contract with the CFF to supply 59 new double-decker trains. The contract could lead to the purchase at a later date of an additional 100 trains, for a total package worth close to CHF6b.
Passengers to see tangible benefits
For travelers, the new cars will offer a number of advantages: electric plugs and Internet for all passengers, the cars at the front and back of the train will have extra doors, to speed up passsenger movement, first and second class will be completely separated, not the case with at least one of the other offers, according to Le Temps.
The trains will carry 1,300 instead of the 1,100 currently handled by InterCity trains. The extra 200 passengers will be accommodated even with more comfortable stairs which will have a different shape to those in today’s trains, but the seats will have the same space and distance as in the IC2000 trains currently running.
US President Barack Obama said in his first State of the Union address, the annual presidential speech, that a top priority now is to see more jobs created, insisting that he wants to see a jobs bill from Congress soon. He also made it clear that his liberal agenda remains firmly in place, led by the drive for healthcare reform and climate-change legislation.
Links to other sites: BBC, The Globe & Mail, Canada, New York Times, NPR
To Facebook or not? That is the question in Payerne
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Job-seekers in Switzerland, in particular the international population of workers, often have few clues about what standard salaries are, since companies are not allowed to advertise specific job salaries, for privacy reasons. TSR/RSR have provided a useful service by posting a table of average salaries by industry. The low end of the scale is the hotel business, with an average of CHF4,000 per month and at the top is banking and finance, with an average monthly income of CHF8,500.
The table is based on Swiss federal statistics for 2008. It also shows percentage increases in salaries for 2010 that have been announced by six of the largest employers, the industries that pay the least and the change in salaries overall for the past 30 years.
Links to other sites: Travailler en Suisse (Fre), with general Swiss salary information, ch.ch on general work information
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss bank UBS holds a regular Investors Day Tuesday 17 November in Zurich and speculation is running high among media and analysts about what it will say to them. The plan to move the bank back to profitability is undoubtedly high on the list, with Bloomberg suggesting that Oswald Gruebel, chairman, “will probably list hiring in fixed-income as a key element in his turnaround plan,” because the bank is likely to count on its investment bank’s trading of debt securities to pull it out of debt. The Wall Street Journal says investors will be watching Robert McCann, new head of the US wealth management unit, for signs of what the bank plans to do there, and whether Gruebel intends to sell off the unit at some point.
The US economy shed 263,000 jobs in September, more than anticipated, and the unemployment rate reached 9.8 percent, its highest rate since 1983, the US Labor Department announced today 2 October. The news raises questions as to whether any recovery in the US economy can be sustainable. Employers have been cutting jobs every month since January 2007, and the number of jobs lost in this recession has reached 7.2 million, adding to the 15.1 million now unemployed in the US. Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times
Evian, France, viewed from Switzerland, across Lake Geneva
Evian, France (Le Dauphine, Fre) – Evian bottled water company announced it has hired 50 part-time workers and its production lines are working on weekends. The bottling plant in the lake-side town of Evian has seen unexpected demand since April and is boosting production ahead of the summer, says CEO Jean-Baptiste Bachelerie.
Click on image to view larger
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Unemployment continues to rise in Switzerland, moving from 3.4 percent in March to 3.5 percent in April, an increase of nearly 2,000 people out of work. The figure is 35.5 percent higher than in April 2007. The number of open jobs fell to 12,397, nearly 3,091 fewer than a year earlier.
Dupont, the third largest chemical company in the US, announced 21 April that net income fell 59 percent, from April 2008, to $489 million. The company will cut 2,500 jobs worldwide as part of belt-tightening measures. Sales plummeted as client industries, notably the automotive industry, weakened, but the company says Q2 sales should be stronger, as client stocks run down. Profits remained in line with analysts expectations in the first quarter. Dupont lowered profit forecasts for 2009 to $1.70-2.10 a share, from an earlier projected $2.00-2.50. Bloomberg
This is the third and last of three articles that together make up the English version of a feature published 2 April 2009 by Swiss news weekly L’Hebdo magazine on expatriates in the Lake Geneva region. GenevaLunch, a partner of l’Hebdo brings you the English version.
French version © 2009 l’Hebdo
English version © 2009 GenevaLunch (may not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission.)
[Part 3, continued] By Julie Zaugg and Mehdi Atmani
How did Switzerland become a nation of expats?
French-speaking Switzerland has an attractive infrastructure, with an international airport at the edge of Geneve, efficient public transport, good hospitals and top universities that are at the front lines of research and serve as conduits for interesting technology transfers,” says Blaise Matthey, director of the Fédération des entreprise romandes (French-speaking business federation).
Crissier, Vaud, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) – Sales are up 3-5% and the company is about to add 120 new jpbs: McDonald’s in Switzerland is doing just fine despite the state of the global econonmy, it says. 24 Heures carries a long feature about the company’s success wiith its McCoffee pilot projects in Switzerland and the company’s history here.
China will focus on special measures to help its estimated 1.5 million graduates who have not found work as concern grows about unemployment and possible unrest spreading. An estimated 10 million migrant workers had been laid off by the end of November, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told university students in Beijing over the weekend. Xinhua News “If growth falls below 8 per cent then that will create enormous problems in terms of unemployment,” the Financial Times quotes Zhang Xiaojing, director of the Macroeconomy Office of the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as saying.
Neuchatel, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The number of people in the workforce in Switzerland grew by 2.3% to 4.37 million in the first six months of 2007, according to figures released Thursday morning by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. The strongest growth was in the secondary sector (mainly manufacturing), up more than 2.8%. New jobs also rose, by 2.4%, to 3.73 million jobs in the country.
