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Swiss nominal wages rising after nine months

Nominal wages up after nine months, says FSO
Nominal wages up after nine months, says FSO Keystone-SDA

Swiss employees could get a pay rise, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). At 2%, the nominal increase outstrips inflation, pointing to slightly fatter wallets.

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Between January and the end of September, nominal wages in Switzerland rose by 2% compared with the same period in 2024, according to a provisional estimate published on Tuesday by the FSO. At the same time, inflation remained stable at 0.2% in July, August and September.

+ How inflation and uncertainty affects Swiss wages

This year, inflation should be limited to 0.2%, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the Swiss National Bank and the Centre for Economic Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Salaries should therefore rise between now and December, along with purchasing power.

Recently, the trade union umbrella organisation Travail.Suisse called for an average pay rise of 2% in 2026, while the Swiss Union of Trade Unions (USS) demanded increases of between 2% and 2.5% for next year. They point in particular to health insurance premiums and rents, which continue to put a strain on household budgets, even though inflation has fallen.

In 2024, nominal wages rose by an average of 1.8% year-on-year. And, after three consecutive years of decline, real wages, i.e. adjusted for inflation, rose by 0.7% year-on-year.

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Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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