Miscellaneous Pay differences in the cultural sector are the same as in other sectors
Cultural workers are confronted with large wage differences. And they work under special conditions. These are the findings of the statistics on the cultural industries. The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) published data on wages for the first time on Monday.
30.09.2024, 09:55
SDA
In 2023, cultural workers in Switzerland earned a median of CHF 69,600. In the economy as a whole, this figure is CHF 72,000. Whereby median means that this value lies exactly in the middle, with one half earning less and the other half more.
In addition, the pay gap between the sexes is pronounced. In comparison with the economy as a whole, culture is no exception. Women earned 56,700 francs, men 85,000 francs.
As in other sectors, the difference is due to the fact that women work part-time significantly more often than men, wrote the FSO. And: in the cultural sector, too, it is men who tend to call the shots in management positions.
Passport and origin
Passport and origin also contribute to wage differences. Cultural professionals with a Swiss passport earned 92,400 francs full-time in 2023; foreign cultural professionals earned 84,000 francs. Cultural professionals with a migration background also earned less (CHF 86,000) compared to those without (CHF 92,700).
It is also worth noting that people with a cultural profession in the cultural sector (CHF 90,000) earn more than people who work in non-cultural professions in the cultural sector (CHF 86,500). An example of this would be a musician in an orchestra compared to an accountant in a theater.
In addition, cultural workers in Switzerland work under conditions that the FSO describes as atypical compared to the economy as a whole: 50% work part-time, 14% have multiple jobs and 27% are self-employed. These three figures are significantly higher than in the economy as a whole.
In 2023, 5.6% of all employees worked in the cultural sector. For the FSO, this includes areas in which creativity plays a central role, such as architecture, video games and advertising.
