Switzerland is facing labor shortages in 41 occupations, the 2023 EURES Report on shortages and surpluses has revealed.
The most affected sectors include healthcare, engineering, IT, education, and the justice field, VisaGuide.World reports.
This implies that professionals who belong to any of these professions and wish to move to Switzerland may have a higher chance of securing a Swiss work visa. According to the EURES report, some of the occupations facing shortages in Switzerland are as follows:
- Environmental engineers
- Agricultural technicians
- Judges
- Lawyers
- Computer network professionals
- Systems administrators
- Database designers and administrators
- Applications programmers
- Software developers
- Special needs teachers
- University and higher education teachers
- Health professionals not elsewhere classified
- Optometrists and ophthalmic opticians
- Physiotherapists
- Pharmacists
- Dentists
- Midwifery professionals
- Nursing professionals
- Generalist medical practitioners
- Mining engineers, metallurgists and related professionals
- Civil engineers
On the other hand, the Swiss country has not reported any surplus occupations.
Switzerland Emerged Among EU Countries With Highest Reliance on Foreign Doctors & Nurses
Among occupations facing a shortage of workers in Switzerland, several of them were related to the healthcare sector. Moreover, Switzerland emerged among EURES countries with the highest reliance on foreign-trained doctors and foreign-trained nurses, as highlighted in the report.
Among the EURES countries, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland show the highest dependency on foreign-trained doctors, and Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria show the highest dependency on foreign-trained nurses.
4 in 5 Workers in Switzerland Is From EU/EFTA or UK
More than 5.3 million people were employed in Switzerland in the first quarter of 2024, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has revealed. Such a figure represents a 1.4 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.
On the other hand, the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent, with 216,000 persons unemployed during this period.
Of all the people employed in Switzerland, over 1.8 million accounted for foreign workers. FSO statistics further revealed that over 78 per cent, or four in five workers in Switzerland, were from EU/EFTA countries or the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, the rest of the 21.7 percent were workers from third countries.
Overall, the number of foreign workers in Switzerland has increased over the past years. In 2023, foreigners made up 33.8 percent of the Swiss labor market, the highest figure recorded since 1991.