Cross-border worker numbers up a quarter

The number of cross-border workers entering Switzerland has increased by 26 per cent over the past five years to reach 208,000 at the end of the first quarter of 2008.

Data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Tuesday show that numbers jumped by nearly a tenth in 2006 alone, thanks to the strong growth of the Swiss job market.

The increase for the period between the first quarters of 2007 and this year was less spectacular (5.5 per cent), but still higher than the average rate over five years.

Cross-border workers represent 4.7 per cent of the working population, up from four per cent in 2003. In the southern canton of Ticino, which shares its border with Italy, the figure climbs to 22 per cent.

More than half of all cross-border workers live in France, one-fifth in Germany and another fifth are Italian residents. Some 3.4 per cent call Austria home.

Most of these employees work in the industrial sector, although the services sector is hiring more and more cross-border workers, reflected in a 37-per-cent increase in their number between 2003 and 2008.