Today in Switzerland: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
Basel is Switzerland's most 'violent' city, data shows; Swiss seniors sue their country for environmental inaction; and other news in our roundup on Tuesday.
Fewer job vacancies at the largest Swiss companies
The number of jobs advertised by large Swiss corporations is falling steadily — around 20 percent fewer adverts are currently being placed on the websites of 50 of Switzerland's top companies.
Migros, Coop, Swisscom, Swiss Post, and various technology and industrial groups, are currently looking for significantly fewer employees than they were six months ago.
However, while staff shortages are now less acute at these companies, overall, Switzerland still suffers from scarcity in sectors like healthcare, gastronomy, and skilled trades, among others.
And Switzerland’s unemployment rate still remains very low, at 2.1 percent.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What Swiss employers are doing to recruit hard-to-find staff
Basel is Switzerland’s most violent city
At least that’s what the Swiss crime statistics, published on Monday by the Federal Statistical Office, are indicating.
Data shows that 1,200 violent crimes were committed in the city in 2022 — this translates into 13.6 violent crimes per 1,000 inhabitants, which is high by Swiss standards.
As a comparison, the city of Zurich recorded 10.8 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants, about the same number as Lausanne.
Generally speaking, police recoded an increase across ‘serious’ crime categories nationwide: violence, including serious assaults and rape, went up by 16 percent in 2022, and 14 percent more burglaries were reported — the first such increase in 10 years.
Pensioners sue Switzerland for environmental ‘inaction’
For the first time in its history, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will examine this week the alleged “climate inaction” of Switzerland, and its effect on the country’s elderly.
"It's a historic event," said Anne Mahrer, 64, one of the spokespersons for the association called "Les Aînées pour la protection du climat suisse" (Seniors for the protection of Swiss environment), an association that has more than 2,000 members, with an average age of 73.
The group claims that everyone, but particularly senior citizens, are affected by global warming.
Before the ECHR, the association intends to invoke several violations committed by the Swiss government of articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, in particular the one guaranteeing the right to life.
Positive outlook for Swiss economy
Economists polled by the KOF Institute for Economic Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich are optimistic about the growth prospects for the remainder of this year.
They expect real gross domestic product (GDP) to rise by 0.8 percent in 2023, compared to 0.7 percent last December.
Unemployment rate should remain low at 2.1 percent, though forecasts call for a slight increase — to 2.2 percent ‑ in five years.
The only negative aspect is the continued inflation — expected at 2.4 percent in 2023 — which should nevertheless shrink to 1.3 percent in 2024, according to KOF experts.
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Fewer job vacancies at the largest Swiss companies
The number of jobs advertised by large Swiss corporations is falling steadily — around 20 percent fewer adverts are currently being placed on the websites of 50 of Switzerland's top companies.
Migros, Coop, Swisscom, Swiss Post, and various technology and industrial groups, are currently looking for significantly fewer employees than they were six months ago.
However, while staff shortages are now less acute at these companies, overall, Switzerland still suffers from scarcity in sectors like healthcare, gastronomy, and skilled trades, among others.
And Switzerland’s unemployment rate still remains very low, at 2.1 percent.
READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What Swiss employers are doing to recruit hard-to-find staff
Basel is Switzerland’s most violent city
At least that’s what the Swiss crime statistics, published on Monday by the Federal Statistical Office, are indicating.
Data shows that 1,200 violent crimes were committed in the city in 2022 — this translates into 13.6 violent crimes per 1,000 inhabitants, which is high by Swiss standards.
As a comparison, the city of Zurich recorded 10.8 crimes per 1,000 inhabitants, about the same number as Lausanne.
Generally speaking, police recoded an increase across ‘serious’ crime categories nationwide: violence, including serious assaults and rape, went up by 16 percent in 2022, and 14 percent more burglaries were reported — the first such increase in 10 years.
Pensioners sue Switzerland for environmental ‘inaction’
For the first time in its history, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will examine this week the alleged “climate inaction” of Switzerland, and its effect on the country’s elderly.
"It's a historic event," said Anne Mahrer, 64, one of the spokespersons for the association called "Les Aînées pour la protection du climat suisse" (Seniors for the protection of Swiss environment), an association that has more than 2,000 members, with an average age of 73.
The group claims that everyone, but particularly senior citizens, are affected by global warming.
Before the ECHR, the association intends to invoke several violations committed by the Swiss government of articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, in particular the one guaranteeing the right to life.
Positive outlook for Swiss economy
Economists polled by the KOF Institute for Economic Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich are optimistic about the growth prospects for the remainder of this year.
They expect real gross domestic product (GDP) to rise by 0.8 percent in 2023, compared to 0.7 percent last December.
Unemployment rate should remain low at 2.1 percent, though forecasts call for a slight increase — to 2.2 percent ‑ in five years.
The only negative aspect is the continued inflation — expected at 2.4 percent in 2023 — which should nevertheless shrink to 1.3 percent in 2024, according to KOF experts.
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