Swiss fear they will be unable to maintain their standard of living after retirement; Swiss multinationals create more jobs than foreign companies; and more news in our Friday roundup.
What financial situation do Swiss residents expect in retirement?
While 62 percent of employed people say they are able to regularly put money aside, confidence falters when it comes to the question of how secure their financial future is: only 42 percent believe they will be able to maintain their standard of living after retirement.
These are the results of a new survey carried out by Swiss Life insurance, which also used official statistics to draw these conclusions.
More than a third of those surveyed (38 percent) say their financial situation has worsened in the past two years.
The reasons citied are rising health insurance premiums, higher rents, and the general increase in prices.
Swiss multinationals create more jobs than foreign companies
According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), around 2.14 million people in Switzerland were employed in various corporate groups in 2024 – an increase of 0.8 percent over the previous year.
The increase is mainly attributable to Swiss multinational companies, which recorded a hike in employment of 1.4 percent.
Therefore, these companies employed almost half of the workforce.
This increase was higher than at foreign-controlled corporate groups: in the same period, the number of employees at foreign companies rose by only 0.2 percent.
In terms of turnover, however, foreign-controlled multinationals are ahead, accounting for almost two-thirds of the total turnover of all corporate groups.
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Zurich suffers from shortages of St. Nicholas and ‘Schmutzli’
December 6th is St. Nicholas Day, but Switzerland’s largest city is short of the main protagonists.
“Demand is even higher than in previous years,” said Philipp Rellstab of the city’s St. Nicholas Society.
The reason for the shortage is that Zurich’s St Nicks and their sinister sidekicks, Schmutzlis, are getting older, and there are few young people willing to take their place, Rellstab said.
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Two Swiss destinations ranked among ’Europe’s 10 most beautiful winter cities’
The ranking, conducted by Icelandair airline, is based on a study that analyses which locations offer the best winter experience based on three factors: snowfall, stargazing potential, and Christmas market activity.
The study considered average January snowfall, the number of clear January days in combination with light pollution, and the number of Instagram posts with Christmas market hashtags. All three factors were weighted equally.
Lucerne is ranked in the 4th place, while Bern is in the 8th.
(And even though the study was conducted by Iceland’s national airline, it was totally unbiased: Reykjavik is not included among the top-10).
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