Swiss wages likely to stay flat except for hotel and IT staff

Keystone/Gaetan Bally

Real wage growth looks set to be flat for most sectors as companies continue to align their wage projections with those for inflation.

Swiss companies are hardly inclined to make concessions in the run-up to next year’s wage negotiations. The 4,500 or so companies that took part in the quarterly survey conducted by the Zurich-based Centre for Economic Research (KOF) are expecting average pay rises of 1.6%, which is right in line with their inflation expectations for the next 12 months.

These figures confirm those of a previous KOF survey of the same companies, which in May predicted inflation over twelve months of 1.6% and wage increases of the same magnitude in 2025. In January, employers’ associations were still considering raising wages by 1.8%.

For its part, the KOF reiterates its forecast of 1.0% inflation over the next year, which would leave employees with a 0.6% pay rise.

With a chronic shortage of staff, the hotel and catering sector is expected to lead the way in terms of pay rises, with average expectations of around 2.7%. Knowledge-intensive services such as information and communication (1.8%) should also be among the most generous to their employees.

Retail trade (1.1%), wholesale trade (1.2%), the manufacture of electrical equipment (also 1.2%) and mechanical engineering (1.3%), on the other hand, prefer to remain cautious, notwithstanding a slight upturn in the European economy. Employees in the health and social services sector (1.3%) are also likely to see their real wages contract.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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