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Information about the Economy of Switzerland

Table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. The three sectors
3. Foreign trade
   1. Most important trade partners
   2. Most important trade goods
4. Currency
5. Cost of living
   1. Exchange rates
   2. Salaries
   3. Expenses
   4. Cost of some food goods
   5. Cost of some non-food goods

1. Introduction:

About two third of the area of Switzerland is covered with forests, lakes and mountains. Since Switzerland has no mineral resources, it must import, process and resell them as products. "Services" are the most important part of the economy. This includes banking, assurances and tourism.
Farming is also an important part of the economy. But the production of the Swiss farmers does not fulfill the needs of all people, so Switzerland must rely on imported goods from other countries.

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2. The three sectors:

The economy in Switzerland is divided into three sectors:

1. Landwirtschaft ("agriculture")
2. Industrie ("industry")
3. Dienstleistungen ("services")

Less than 10% of the population is employed in the Landwirtschaft ("agriculture"), also considered the primary sector. This sector is strongly supported by the government.

About 40% of the population are employed in the Industrie, Gewerbe und Handwerk ("industry, trade and handicraft"), also considered the secondary sector. This sector includes the Maschinen- und Metallindustrie ("machine and metal industry"), Uhrenindustrie ("watch industry") and the Textilindustrie ("textile industry"). All of them export much of their products to foreign countries and suffer a lot because of the expensive Swiss Franc. The fact that Switzerland does not belong to the European Union additionally slows down the Swiss exports.

More than 50% of the population are employed in the Dienstleistungssektor ("services"), also considered the tertiary sector. This sector includes banking, assurances, tourism and so on. Banking is one of the most important businesses in Switzerland. Many of the banks have started to use the Internet for business purposes. For more information, see the directory of Swiss banks.

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3. Foreign trade:

Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest contribution of the foreign trade to the gross inland product. The most important trade partners are the so called "industrialized countries". In 2003, 77.2% of the exported goods were shipped to and 89.0% of the imported goods came from those countries. In particular, 60.3% of the goods were shipped to and 81.7% of the imported goods came from countries which belong to the European Union (EU).

3.1 Most important trade partners:

The table below shows the name of the countries and the value of the imported and exported goods in million Swiss Francs (1 million = 1'000'000) for the year 2003.

No Country Import 1 Germany 41'200 2 Italy 13'800 3 France 13'700 4 Netherlands 6'400 5 Austria 5'400 USA 5'400 6 Great Britain 4'900 7 Ireland 4'700 8 Belgium 3'600 9 Japan 2'600

No Country Export 1 Germany 27'700 2 USA 13'800 3 France 11'500 4 Italy 11'000 5 Great Britain 6'200 6 Japan 5'100 7 Austria 4'400 Netherlands 4'400 8 Belgium 2'600 9 Ireland 900

3.2 Most important trade goods:

The table below shows the value of the imported and exported goods in million Swiss Francs (1 million = 1'000'000) for the year 2002.

No Goods Import 1 Chemicals 27'256 2 Machines 25'925 3 Vehicles 12'843 4 Agriculture and fishery 9'864 5 Metals 9'329 6 Textile, clothing and shoes 8'625 7 Precision tools, watches, jewelry 8'167 8 Energy 5'369 9 Paper 4'740 10 Other 4'516 11 Leather, rubber, plastic 4'264 12 Stone, soil 2'229

No Goods Export 1 Chemicals 44'846 2 Machines 31'693 3 Precision tools, watches, jewelry 22'602 4 Agriculture and fishery 4'219 5 Vehicles 3'742 6 Textile, clothing and shoes 3'726 7 Leather, rubber, plastic 3'647 8 Paper 3'275 9 Other 1'746 10 Metals 975 11 Stone, soil 780 12 Energy 363

Information sources:

• www.bfs.admin.ch
• www.zahlenspiegel.ch

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4. Currency:

The Swiss currency is called "Schweizerfranken" ("Swiss Francs") or short "Franken". One hundred "Rappen" make up one Swiss Franc. CHF is the ISO representation for Swiss francs; however, the old notation sFr. is still used quite often.

This is a 5 Franken coin, called a "Fünfliber"

The currency is available in the following coins:

• 1 Rappen ("Räppler"), no longer in use
• 2 Rappen ("Zweiräppler"), no longer in use
• 5 Rappen ("Fünfer")
• 10 Rappen ("Zehner")
• 20 Rappen ("Zwanziger")
• ½ Franken ("Fünfziger")
• 1 Franken ("Fränkler")
• 2 Franken ("Zweifränkler")
• 5 Franken ("Fünfliber")
  a long time ago, there used to be a five francs bill (includes images of approx. 220kB)

Images of all coins.

The currency is available in the following bills:

• 10 Franken (images of current, previous and older bill, approx. 400 kB)
• 20 Franken (images of current and previous bill, approx. 450 kB)
• 50 Franken (images of current bill, approx. 220 kB)
• 100 Franken (images of current, previous and older bill, approx. 710 kB)
• 200 Franken (images of current bill, approx. 270 kB)
• 1000 Franken (images of current bill, approx. 330 kB)

To convert currency, we suggest the oanda online currency converter.

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5. Cost of living:

Now and then I receive questions about the cost of living in Switzerland. Even tough it is difficult to compare the costs of living between various countries, I try to list some indications that may give an idea what it means to go along with your salary in Switzerland.

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5.1 Exchange rates:

I remember times when I was young (some 35 years ago), when one US dollar (USD) cost more than four Swiss Francs (CHF) and one German Mark cost more than one Swiss Franc. Today (May 14, 2010), one US dollar costs approximately CHF 1.11 and the German Mark has been replaced by the Euro (EUR). One Euro corresponds to about CHF 1.40. These ever changing exchange rates are one problem in comparing costs of living.

5.2 Salaries:

Another problem in comparing the costs of living is the amount of money one has available to spend, also known as the salary. This is particularly difficult because most people do not like to talk about it, at least here in Switzerland. Of course, the actual salary depends on the education, the position within the company or organization, the duration of the employment etc. The following table is a very rough approximation of a yearly income depending on the level of education:

5.3 Expenses:

Again as a very rough approximation, a Swiss family spends its income as follows:

• 25-35% for rent of a condominium or house
• 10-20% for assurances (health, liability, theft, car), health care and savings deposits
• 15-20% for food (at home and in restaurants)
• 20-40% for other expenses (non-food, car maintenance, phone bills, vacations, recreational activities)
• 5-15% for taxes (Taxes vary across the different cantons quite a lot)

5.4 Cost of some food goods:

The following table is a list of some food goods and their approximative cost as of summer 1996 in the area of Zürich.

If you are not familiar with our metric unit system, see explanations about metric versus U.S. unit systems

5.5 Cost of some non-food goods:

The following table is a list of some non-food goods and their approximative cost as of spring 2008 in the area of Zürich.

If you are not familiar with our metric unit system, see explanations about metric versus U.S. unit systems

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