One in three people in Switzerland earning less this year

Many of those surveyed fear things will get worse. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The Covid-19 pandemic is driving down wages in Switzerland: 34% of the population have seen their incomes drop in 2020 due to the coronavirus, either because of short-time work or as a result of being laid off.

The data, reported by Sunday newspaper Le Matin Dimanche, emerge from a survey conducted in 24 countries by collection company Intrum. Faced with this situation, one in five Swiss (19%) were forced to postpone the payment of at least one invoice – a figure higher than that reported in a similar survey in 2018, when the percentage was 14.6%.

“With the second wave of the pandemic and perhaps a third one coming in the spring, as well as drastic new measures taken by the federal government and the cantons, we can expect unemployment to rise at the end of the year, a phenomenon that will go hand in hand with further job losses,” Daniel Lampart, chief economist at the Swiss Trade Union Federation, told Le Matin Dimanche. “This will hurt a lot,” he pointed out.

Almost a quarter (24%) of the people surveyed in Switzerland said they feared an additional decline in the near future.

Last month the government agreed to extend the short-time working compensation and unemployment benefits. A bill to parliament foresees financial support for employees with fixed-term contracts, including apprentices.