Salaries in Switzerland should increase in 2026, the construction sector in mind
Despite the customs conflict with the United States, Swiss companies plan to considerably increase wages in 2026, especially in the construction sector. This is what emerges from a new salary survey conducted by the KOF center of the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich (EPFZ), reports the NZZ Sonntag newspaper, according to Albinfo.ch.
This development should be well received by Swiss employees. According to the survey, companies plan to increase nominal wages by 1.3 % on average in the next twelve months. Given inflation – recently estimated at 0.5 % by KOF – real growth should be 0.8 %.
Construction, big winner
The construction sector should be the most beneficiary, with an increase in wages of 1.7 %. The hotel and catering sector also provides for a strong growth, 1.5 %. Lower increases are expected in the wholesale trade (0.9 %), manufacturing industry and retail (1.1 %).
The data has been collected before the United States imposed new customs duties of 39 % on Swiss products. “These customs duties, especially among industrial companies strongly oriented towards the American market, are likely to have reduced expectations in terms of increase in wages,” said KOF.
The KOF survey was carried out with 4,500 2022 companies. From XNUMX, the KOF measures each quarter to wage expectations in the private sector.
Job cuts on the horizon
The announcement of this increase in wages comes in a context of trade tensions with the United States, especially due to customs duties of 39 % on Swiss products. If these customs duties are maintained, between 7,500 15,000 and 6.1 xnumx jobs could be deleted, reports the NZZ AM Sonntag. The already weakened sectors such as watchmaking and automotive construction will be the hardest affected. In the watchmaking industry, unemployment already reaches xnumx %.
Economic growth should also slow down. In the short term, the contraction could reach between 0.3 and 0.6 % of the gross domestic product (GDP), reducing annual growth to less than 1 %. However, a recession can be avoided. The situation would be much more serious if customs duties also touched pharmacies, warns KOF.