Wages Swiss employees can expect a small increase in wages
Swiss companies expect wages to rise next year. This is shown by the latest wage survey of around 4,500 companies conducted by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich. According to the survey, companies expect average wage growth of 1.3 percent.
17.08.2025, 09:56
SDA
After deducting the 0.5 percent inflation expected by the KOF, this would leave employees with a real wage increase of around 0.8 percent, the KOF told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday, confirming a report in the "NZZ am Sonntag".
Compared to last year's wage survey, companies' expectations regarding expected wage growth have therefore fallen by 0.3 percentage points. According to KOF, this is due to the decreasing shortage of skilled workers and the significant drop in inflation in recent months. Over the past three years, companies' expectations for nominal wage growth have fallen continuously.
Influence of US tariffs not taken into account
The data was collected before the USA imposed new tariffs of 39% on Switzerland, as the KOF emphasized. "The tariffs are likely to have further reduced expectations of wage growth, particularly in industrial companies with a strong US focus," the research institute said.
The construction industry is performing best with an expected increase of 1.7 percent. Companies in the hospitality industry are also expecting a comparatively high wage increase of 1.5 percent. The smallest improvement is expected in wholesale at 0.9% and in manufacturing and retail at 1.1% each.
The KOF has been surveying the wage expectations of companies in the private sector on a quarterly basis since 2022.
