No. 171, March

In Switzerland – in contrast to Germany – low wages have managed to keep up surprisingly well with average wages. Research to date cannot conclusively explain the different trends in these two countries. In this article, KOF economist Kristina Schüpbach discusses various theories on this topic. One possible explanation is that Switzerland’s job market is more extensively covered by collective labour agreements than Germany’s.

Michael Graff, Head of the Research Division "Macroeconomic Forecasting", explains why inequality should be a key topic in economics and why redistribution and efficiency do not necessarily have to be opposites.

The business climate for the Swiss private sector deteriorated somewhat in February. Having risen sharply in January, the Business Situation Indicator could not quite sustain the previous month’s value in February (see chart G 3). Nevertheless, the economic situation in Switzerland in the first few months of this year is significantly more encouraging than it was in the autumn of 2022.