The Swiss economy has been relatively resilient
The fiscal position remains strong despite the fiscal expansion during the crisis
Productivity growth has slowed
Environmental pressures remain despite decoupling of domestic emissions and material use from growth
Risks and challenges from the ongoing pandemic persist
The Swiss economy has shown its resilience in the face of a global crisis
The overall resilience masks high heterogeneity across sectors and groups
The Swiss enjoy a high standard of living and relatively low income inequality
The crisis has hit low-income households harder
The COVID-19 pandemic has yet to be overcome
Economic developments
Monetary policy remains accommodative
The build-up of imbalances in the residential real estate market has continued
Emergency fiscal measures pushed public balance into a deficit
The crisis had differing impacts across sectors
Switzerland is a top performer in terms of labour productivity and GDP per capita
Productivity is very high in a number of sectors
The globally competitive and high value-added economy is sustained by a highly skilled workforce
With ageing, productivity growth will be key to sustain living standards
Productivity growth has slowed: GDP per hour worked, USD, constant prices, constant PPPs, annual average % change
There is room to improve regulatory settings
Barriers to trade in services are higher than in most other OECD countries
Switzerland has benefited from high inward FDI
Switzerland has decoupled economic growth from domestic greenhouse gas emissions and material use but environmental pressures remain
Population is ageing rapidly
Employment rates fall steeply after 65
Ageing creates fiscal pressures
The replacement rate from mandatory pension schemes is expected to fall
Switzerland relies heavily on direct taxation
The tax system contributes to high indebtedness of Swiss households, while reliance on taxing immovable property is low
Switzerland’s VAT rate and revenues are among the lowest in the OECD
Switzerland performs well in control of corruption
Anti-money laundering measures are effective in most aspects
The labour market has shown resilience, helped by swift policy support
The number of job vacancies exceeded their pre-crisis level in the second quarter of 2021
The short-time working scheme significantly cushioned the impact of the pandemic on employment
The impact of containment measures differed across sectors
Skilled labour shortages temporarily eased during the pandemic
Short time work use differed across groups
Probability that an employee moves to non-employment or short-time work between consecutive quarters
The Swiss labour market performs well in international comparison
The sizeable gender wage gap and high incidence of part-time work weigh on women’s labour incomes
Women and foreigners disproportionally work in the most affected sectors
Employment gaps are sizeable for some groups
Short-time work was massively used in the sectors most affected by restrictions
Several countries have recently (re)introduced or increased co-financing by firms in job retention schemes
Gross replacements rates in job retention schemes tend to be higher than in the unemployment benefit systems
Self-employment represents a sizable share of employment in Switzerland
Access to social protection is limited for self-employed workers
Enrolment in early childhood education and care is low
The disincentives for second-earners to move to full time employment are very large
Incidence of long-term unemployment increases with age
Performance in reading varies widely across socio-economic groups
The pandemic crisis led to widespread closure of schools
Participation in adult learning is high but should be broadened
Participation in life-long learning has declined during the pandemic, especially for older workers who tend to have lower digital skill
Swiss adults’ digital skills are solid but lag the top performers
Immigrants have heterogeneous educational attainment