Teachers enjoy high pay and low unemployment

Teaching in Switzerland pays well Keystone

Among Switzerland’s university graduates, it seems that new teachers have the easiest time finding good jobs. Also, those with teacher education degrees earn more than their peers – including those with degrees from technology and applied science universities.

Hardly any new teachers (0.7%) were unemployed a year after receiving their graduation diplomas, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office said on Monday.

In comparison, their peers with master’s degrees from technical institutes or bachelor’s degrees from applied science universities had higher levels of unemployment: 3.9% and 3.6%, respectively. The overall unemployment rate in Switzerland in 2013 was 4.4% – considerably lower than the European Union average of 10.7%.

New teachers also enjoyed higher initial salaries – on average of CHF87,700 ($98,000) – which was CHF9,000 more than those starting in science and technology.

However, the office found that the situation generally improved for science and technical graduates who had had time to establish themselves. It surveyed graduates from the class of 2008 and checked on them five years later.

Unemployment among those with five-year-old master’s degrees from technical institutes was 2.3% in 2013, and they earned CHF95,000 on average. Unemployment among those with bachelor’s degrees from applied science universities was 1.7%, and they earned CHF90,400. By comparison, those with teaching degrees earned CHF91,300.

Five years after graduation, the best-paid were those who had studied medicine, pharmacology, economics and psychology; they were earning salaries of around CHF100,000. Those who had studied law, music, theatre and other arts were among the worst-paid – for example, somebody with a bachelor’s degree in design might earn CHF72,600.

The Statistical Office surveyed graduates from the class of 2012, checking to see where they were a year after graduation.