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Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
How many hours do you have to work to earn a year’s pension? The answer varies greatly from country to country, as you will read below. (Spoiler: in Switzerland you have to work harder than in France.)
Also, if you have heard that Switzerland is looking for 85,000 foreign workers to be paid handsomely, be aware that it’s fake news.
We’ll close with a Swiss success in sport, but first let’s deal with the US trade tariff once again.
All the best.
The Swiss business world is mobilising to defend the trade agreement reached with the United States, which is at the centre of the negotiating mandate to be discussed in parliament, Blick reports today.
The agreement made it possible to lower the punitive tariffs imposed by Washington on Swiss exports from 39% to 15%, but the “seduction operation” that seems to have allowed this breakthrough has left many people perplexed. The Greens have filed a criminal complaint against the six businessmen who gave a Rolex and a gold bar to US President Donald Trump. According to Blick, two-thirds of the Swiss population oppose the deal, which is seen by many people as subservience to Washington.
Some 130 high-ranking representatives of the Swiss economy have therefore jumped into action, writing an alarmist letter to those responsible for foreign policy in the House of Representatives and the Senate. “For many of us, the very existence of Swiss business is at stake,” they wrote. No obstacles must be put in the way of the agreement, the signatories stressed.
Today the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives voted 17 to 2 in favour of the negotiation mandate. The decision of the counterpart committee in the Senate is expected tomorrow.
According to Blick, if a referendum is launched against the agreement, there is a risk of a heated debate on the Swiss “oligarchy”, peppered with anti-Americanism and criticism of Trump.
How long do you have to work to earn a year’s pension? The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) answered the thorny question today in an article comparing the pension systems of several European countries. The differences are substantial.
Patrick Chuard-Keller, chief economist of the Swiss Employers’ Union, analysed how much – or how little – people have to work in various countries to receive a pension. While in Switzerland you have to work 3,310 hours (over two working years) for a year’s pension, in line with the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands, in Germany you need only 2,925 hours. In France, where the retirement age is 62, the required working hours are 2,436.
According to the NZZ, this low labour input is costing France dearly: 23% of public expenditure is spent on pensions, which absorb 13.4% of gross domestic product, compared to 6.4% in the Netherlands. Switzerland is also doing well, with a 6.6% share, while Germany stands at 10.8%.
According to a fake news story that has gone viral in many countries, Switzerland is facing an appalling labour shortage and is therefore looking for 85,000 workers to whom it would offer monthly salaries of between €3,500 (CHF3,275) and €6,500. Swiss public broadcaster RTS reports on the origin of this hoax.
The information has been resurfacing cyclically since 2022 and, in recent weeks, it has spread like mad on social media in France and Belgium, but also in Tunisia. The news is misrepresented and presented in a deceptive way to get clicks.
“It’s a typical case of viral misinformation,” says Patrick Hack, professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne (HEC Lausanne). The articles about it mix true statements (such as the level of Swiss wages) and lies (the urgent promulgation of a law in Switzerland to hire 85,000 workers).
According to RTS, the figure of 85,000 appeared in January 2022 in a statement from an Aargau employment agency estimating that Switzerland needed 85,000 new skilled workers to regain economic growth similar to pre-pandemic levels.
The news was picked up by Blick and then misinterpreted and reported by other newspapers, which in turn became the source of a media buzz that, with a good dose of sensationalism, repeatedly fuelled the spread of this fake news.
It remains true, however, that in the third quarter of 2025 there were roughly 88,000 vacancies in Swiss companies, but also 140,000 unemployed.
We don’t normally cover sport in our briefing – except when Switzerland makes history. It happened yesterday, when the national team won the final of the women’s floorball World Cup in Ostrava against the hosts, the Czech Republic.
It was a hard-fought 2-0 victory that put Switzerland back at the top of the floorball world 20 years after their victory in Singapore. After a goal by Céline Stettler in the 13th minute, the Swiss withstood their opponents’ attacks and 38 seconds before the end the Swiss captain, Isabelle Gerig, secured victory with a long-range shot into an empty goal.
The exploit came on the back of a 6-3 semi-final victory against the Swedish super-favourites. The latter had to settle for third place after beating Finland.
The Advent calendar of Swiss Oddities
Every day until December 24, our newsletter features a surprise article from our Swiss Oddities series – interesting, unusual and sometimes bizarre stories from Switzerland.
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