Where are our skilled workers disappearing to?

Here is an overview of the main causes:

• Change of sector
• Retirements
• Part-time work
• Short-time work and further training
• Lack of students
• Returning abroad
• Economy running at full speed

Change of sector

The sectors that were hit particularly hard by the pandemic are having even more difficulty finding staff today. Gastronomy, the event industry, the travel industry and the retail trade were shut down from one day to the next. Many affected employees have looked for a job that is "safe". Many of them are satisfied with this and do not want to go back to the "old" job.

Retirements

Since 2019, more workers have been leaving the labour market than new ones entering. This will not improve in the future; according to the employers' association, one million people will retire in the next ten years and only 500,000 workers will move up.
Despite the shortage of skilled workers, there is still an "age guillotine" in Switzerland. Many SMEs do not hire employees over 45. The reason for this is that older employees are expensive and in some cases no longer have the necessary qualifications.

Short-time work and further education

Employees on short-time work are sitting at home and missing out on the labour market. Many have also started training or further education, which they are now completing before returning to the labour market.

Part-time

The proportion of part-time employees has increased from 25% (in the early 1990s) to 37%. Many men have reduced their workload to help with childcare and housework. Many young people want to work part-time (even without a family). Companies are increasingly unable to find applicants for full-time positions.

The students are missing

Since the introduction of the Bologna reforms some 20 years ago, students have been spending more time at university. Compulsory lectures and exam cadence have increased, at the expense of part-time jobs. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Lectures are attended on laptops at home. Expensive rooms in shared flats are no longer needed; part-time jobs become obsolete.

Returning abroad

Although more people still immigrate to Switzerland than emigrate, the difference is decreasing. Many Italians and Portuguese move to their former homeland after retirement to enjoy their retirement there. Often they take early retirement and are absent from the labour market.
Not infrequently, the next generation follows, who are still in the middle of their working lives. For many secondos, the departure of their parents also means the loss of free childcare.

Economy running at full speed

Parts of the Swiss economy were shut down from one day to the next by the CORONA pandemic. With the return to normality, the economy is running at full speed! The catch-up effects, e.g. in the travel industry, are huge.

The whole of Europe is feeling the strong upswing; as a result, fewer guest workers are coming to Switzerland.

The shortage of skilled workers is affecting the entire Swiss economy across all sectors - but companies are struggling with different lengths of spikes. For SMEs, recruiting managers is much more difficult than for large companies. In many SMEs, the boss takes care of recruitment on the side. It goes without saying that they cannot keep up with the HR departments of Google, Facebook & Co.

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Michael Münger

Partner, Team Leader

Swiss Certified Accountant
Bachelor of Science BFH in Business Administration

T +41 26 492 78 58
mim@core-partner.ch

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