Retail shopping was relatively brisk in November (photo: Schilliger Garden Centre, Gland, Novembr 2011)
NEUCHATEL, SWITZERLAND – Swiss prices fell at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in 2011, show figures published Monday 9 January by the Swiss Statistical Office. The November inflation rate was -0.5 percent.
Full-year consumer price index figures will be available in a month.
Retails sales figures for November 2011 were also published Monday and show a 1.8 percent increase over November 2010, with the non-food sector showing positive growth, while food, drinks and tobacco slipped slightly.
The jobless rate rose, from 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent, with 2,100 fewer new jobs posted but the unemployment rate for the year of 2011 was one of the three best in the past nine years, at 3.1 percent.
Tourists meet the local cows, hiking down from the Jungfraujoch
BERN, SWITZERLAND – July 2011 was not the disaster for Swiss tourism that some people expected, given the high Swiss franc, but European visitors’ overnight stays were down by 3.5 percent compared to July 2010, with foreigners’ overnight stays down 4 percent.
Two of Switzerland’s traditionally largest groups of European visitors, Germans and the British, were down 11.6 and 10.5 percent respectively.
The Swiss Statistical Office attributes the drop to the combination of a very high franc and unusually cold, wet weather for mid-summer.
Chinese (without Hong Kong) tourists, while still a small part of the overall number, had a positive impact with a 61 percent increase, to 76,787 overnight stays. Germans had 527,612, the largest group.
For the first six months of the year, Chinese visitors’ overnight stays rose 42.5 percent, faster than Indian visitors’, which increased by more than 25 percent, and the Chinese are now not far behind Indians as a key tourist group.
Vacant housing in Switzerland increased
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Vacant housing in Switzerland increased to 36,710 units at 1 June 2010, an increase of 1,950 units compared to last year’s census, reports Swiss Statistics (PDF, Fre) 4 October.
Unoccupied dwellings represent less than one percent of the total estimated housing stock, according to the government’s statistical agency.
Vacant rental units rose by almost 10 percent since last year, but vacant houses for sale dropped by 850 units, or 8 percent of the total stock.
Canton Jura has the highest vacancy rate of the cantons, at 2.08 percent; Canton Geneva has the lowest rate at 0.23 percent.
Students regularly visit EPFL in Lausanne, but more boys than girls opt to go
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Only 15 percent of women in Switzerland are active in information technology, and only five percent of Swiss engineers are women. This brainpower deficit is addressed in Geneva for the first time by a leading US organization in the field, in a day of workshops in English and French for girls aged 11-15 and their parents. The workshops will be held at the International School of Geneva 14 November.
Expanding your horizons (EYH) chose Geneva, Switzerland to organize its first series of workshops in Europe. It regularly runs about 90 conferences a year in Asia and the USA to introduce girls to the sciences.
Participating girls choose workshops led by women who are recognized in their fields, says Jennifer Kealy, EYH Geneva conference chairwoman. The same subjects in school may be dry, but the workshops try to give young women a taste for the uses to which science and mathematics can be put in an environment that is dynamic and fun.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss unemployment rose 0.1 percent in October to reach 4 percent, the highest level since 2005, says the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), 6 November. Compared to last October, the number of unemployed people has increased 57 percent and reached 158,138, Seco says.
The numbers of people working reduced hours jumped in October: 46,936 people are partially employed in 3,118 firms across the country. This is 14.1 and 14 percent more, respectively, than last month, Seco says.
Gleeful consumers, money goes further
Neuchatel and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Inflation in October was 0.6 percent above September’s rate, according to figures released Thursday, 5 November, by Swiss Statistics. The Swiss inflation index stands at 103.7 (100=2005). This is still 0.8 percent below the rate in October 2008.
The quarterly consumer confidence survey was more positive than the last one released in July, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). The survey queries 1,100 households around the country to obtain an idea of current feelings about the economy, from a consumer’s point of view. The survey includes questions about the household budget, about the capacity to save in the next 12 months, and feelings about unemployment.
Swiss households spend more money
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss consumer price index was up slightly by 0.1 percent in August, compared to July, bringing the overall index to 103.1 (100 = December 2005), according to Swiss Statistics. This is still down 0.8 percent year on year, but the decline has slowed from July when the annual decline was -1.2 percent.
Another form to fill in
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss statistics, the Swiss government’s statistical office, conducts a regular survey on the working population in Switzerland which is an important component of the employment situation in Switzerland. The results will now be published on a quarterly basis. One of the aims is to garner information on the effects of the free movement of people as well as the numbers of working poor. Replies to the survey are compulsory.
