The economy, like life, is full of paradoxes. The situation in Switzerland demonstrates this. Unemployment is very low, 1.9%, which is a source of satisfaction and envy of others, but not all are advantages. As revealed a few days ago by the Corriere del Ticino, employment offices are forced to lighten their staff and even lay off staff and not renew contracts due to lack of work. It is happening in Ticino and in other cantons such as Solothurn or Bern. In the latter, unemployment stands at 1.4%, a record low.
As in other Western countries, in Switzerland there are many vacancies and not enough candidates to fill them, especially in sectors such as healthcare and hospitality. In addition, as a consequence of the pandemic, the digitization process of the economy has accelerated and there is a huge demand for computer technicians. 22% of small and medium-sized companies admit to suffering from a lack of qualified labor.
Some imbalances attract attention. According to the latest official data, unemployment in the Swiss Confederation is at 7.2% among young people under 24 years of age. On the contrary, among those over 50, the unemployed are limited to a tiny 0.8%.
Stability and high wages have always been a feature of the thriving Swiss economy. Hence the strong immigration and the growing phenomenon of cross-border workers, those people who commute daily from nearby areas in neighboring countries. At the end of September there were 374,000, more than half French, slightly less than 25% Italian and the rest German.
Switzerland continues to lead the ranking of countries that attract talent, according to the 2022 Global Talent Competitiveness Index. The Alpine country is ahead of Singapore, Denmark and the United States, in that order. However, there are dark clouds on the horizon. A recent study by the organization Travail Suisse has revealed that, although Swiss employees are less and less afraid of losing their job – partly because it will be very easy to find a new one – stress is a growing concern. Six years ago, 37.8% of employees mentioned stress as their main problem. Today they are 43%.
As for unemployment, economists –since the mythical John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s– have always warned of a diabolic correlation between very low unemployment, inflation, loss of productivity and competitiveness. That is to say, that the excessive bonanza carries within it an almost automatic corrective in the opposite direction. Below a certain level of unemployment, the system may become ineffective. The experts coined in their day the term slack, a differential or structural lag that is harmful. What, then, is the healthiest level of unemployment? An ideal figure cannot be given because circumstances influence and change from country to country.
For Andrea Bassanini, an economist specializing in employment at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), based in Paris, Switzerland's specific problem is that the employment rate (the percentage of employed persons out of the population of working age) it is lower now than before even the covid crisis. This, added to the very low unemployment rate, suggests that a significant number of people, for various reasons, have voluntarily stopped working.
“A record low level of unemployment in a situation where the employment rate is not skyrocketing but falling is a sign of great difficulty in recruiting workers and therefore limiting Switzerland's ability to grow,” Bassanini said. to The Vanguard.
As possible incentives for jobs to be accepted, the expert mentioned various measures such as facilitating more immigration, promoting wage increases – the unions are asking for a minimum monthly wage of 4,500 francs (almost 4,600 euros) – and better job quality in low-wage sectors. like hospitality.
The apparent Swiss paradise is therefore imperfect and could be improved.
