Crisis prompts fall in foreign labour
The influx of foreign labour from European countries into Switzerland has been dropping as a result of the economic crisis.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said it expected a stronger impact on the labour market in the months ahead.
A Seco report published on Thursday confirmed a government decision to maintain unrestricted access to the Swiss labour market for citizens from most European Union countries.
The survey also found that immigrated skilled labour had helped boost economic growth over the past few years.
The increased competition had had no noticeable negative impact on salary levels, according to Seco.
The biggest increase of foreign labour was from neighbouring Germany and from Portugal. A majority of such workers were highly skilled.
Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, has gradually been opening up its labour market since 2002 under a key bilateral treaty with Brussels.
There are concerns that unemployment in Switzerland, currently at 3.4 per cent, could approach the higher levels in the 27-nation bloc.
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