Swiss Incomes And Wealth Rose During Covid Pandemic

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The Covid pandemic had a negative impact in many areas, but the bank account of the average Swiss wasn't one of them.

This content was published on May 30, 2024 - 10:06 4 minutes Keystone-SDA

Do you want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here .

Despite the difficult economic situation in 2020, both incomes and wealth continued to grow on average, with cantonal differences.

One of the main reasons was the stable Swiss labour market, according to a study published on Thursday by Bank Cler and research institute BAK Economics. Unemployment only increased from 2.3% to 3.2% in the first year of the pandemic.

“A collapse in the disposable income of the people of Switzerland was prevented thanks to the extensive support provided by the state,” said Samuel Meyer, CEO of Bank Cler. The decisive factor was heavy state compensation to incentivise Swiss employers to reduce employee hours rather than make job cuts, he said.

Incomes rising on average

The study examined income and wealth trends from 2007 to the most recent data from 2020, during which time the average income in Switzerland rose by 12.5% to just over CHF71,000 ($77,973).

However, the average is often heavily distorted by top earners, so it is better to look at the mean or median incomes to understand what a“normal citizen” earns. This figure also rose between 2007 and 2020 by just under 10%, or CHF4,800, to around CHF53,900.

More More Are most Swiss residents rich?

This content was published on Jul 29, 2019 Following reader suggestions, we find out if most people calling Switzerland home can afford diamond rings and fur coats or are just making ends meet.

Read more: Are most Swiss residents rich?

Income distribution within the population was also notable. For example, the top 10% of households in all cantons earned more than CHF100,000, and the average income was more than CHF131,400. Meanwhile, the bottom half of households earned less than CHF53,900.

Differences across cantons

As is so often the case, there were differences across individual cantons. Valais, for example, probably benefited from a combination of government support and domestic tourism, the bank continued. Incomes there rose most significantly in 2020, and from 2019 to 2020 they rose by 5.3% to CHF54,100. In contrast, the cantons of Schwyz (-6%) and Nidwalden (-5.2%) saw the sharpest falls in income.

Nevertheless, these two central Swiss cantons were still in second and third place in the ranking of Switzerland's highest average incomes, behind Zug with CHF115,300. In 2020, the average income in canton Schwyz was CHF96,200 and CHF85,400 in Nidwalden. Cantons Jura (CHF54,700) and Valais (CHF54,100) were at the bottom of the ranking.

More millionaires

Wealth increased even more significantly than income between 2007 and 2020. Private wealth increased by 60% to a total of CHF5.1 billion during the period, corresponding to around CHF1.31 million per household. Real estate assets in particular rose sharply, by 78% to CHF2.2 billion.

The number of millionaires also increased thanks to rising share and property prices. During this period, the number of millionaires in Switzerland rose by 72% to more than 374,000 households. 2020 alone saw an additional 20,000 millionaires. The highest concentration of millionaires was in canton Zug (just under 15%), followed by Schwyz (just under 14%) and Appenzell Inner Rhodes (just over 12%).

The total wealth of millionaires has also increased significantly since 2007, by over 90% to around CHF1.6 billion. The average wealth per millionaire has risen by 12.2%.

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look
here , and if you have feedback on this news story please write to
... .

External Content Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you. Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

Email

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

I consent to the use of my data for the SWI swissinfo newsletter.

Articles in this story

• Are most Swiss residents rich?

News More Salt intake in Switzerland too high owing to ready meals

This content was published on May 30, 2024 Switzerland's average salt consumption is around 75% above the recommended five grams per day, according to a new study.

Read more: Salt intake in Switzerland too high owing to ready meals More UBS fined CHF50,000 for suspected money-laundering negligence

This content was published on May 30, 2024 Switzerland's finance ministry has fined UBS bank CHF50,000 after employees allegedly failed to report red flags of money laundering over several years.

Read more: UBS fined CHF50,000 for suspected money-laundering negligence More Switzerland received more than 400 extradition requests last year

This content was published on May 30, 2024 Switzerland received 430 requests for the extradition of criminals last year, an increase of over a quarter compared to 2022.

Read more: Switzerland received more than 400 extradition requests last year More Shell companies: Swiss want to make snail farming easier

This content was published on May 30, 2024 The Swiss parliament is calling on the government to amend legislation so that small-scale snail breeding facilities on farms can be authorised.

Read more: Shell companies: Swiss want to make snail farming easier More Swiss cheesemaker convicted of involuntary manslaughter

This content was published on May 30, 2024 A cheesemaker in Steinerberg has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after seven people died after eating listeria-contaminated cheese.

Read more: Swiss cheesemaker convicted of involuntary manslaughter More Swiss car camera uses AI to detect pedestrians 100 times faster

This content was published on May 30, 2024 A new type of car camera has been developed that will recognise obstacles 100 times faster than previous driver-assistance systems.

Read more: Swiss car camera uses AI to detect pedestrians 100 times faster More Switzerland 'extremely concerned' about spiralling violence in Middle East

This content was published on May 30, 2024 Switzerland has strongly condemned Hamas' recent rocket fire on Israel and Israel's attacks on a camp for displaced people in Rafah.

Read more: Switzerland 'extremely concerned' about spiralling violence in Middle East More Switzerland may triple tuition fees for foreign university students

This content was published on May 29, 2024 Foreign students at ETH Zurich and EPFL may soon have to pay at least three times as much as Swiss students in tuition fees.

Read more: Switzerland may triple tuition fees for foreign university students More Female climate activists could report Switzerland to Council of Europe

This content was published on May 29, 2024 The KlimaSeniorinnen association (the Climate Senior Women) is urging the Swiss government to respect the European court's recent decision.

Read more: Female climate activists could report Switzerland to Council of Europe More One in five Swiss post offices to close over next four years

This content was published on May 29, 2024 By 2028, there will only be 600 post offices in Switzerland, with 2,000 serviced locations.

Read more: One in five Swiss post offices to close over next four years

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at ... .

MENAFN30052024000210011054ID1108277592