Switzerland Business Magnet – RSI Swiss Radio & Television

Many foreign companies, despite the pandemic year of 2020 and the economic and employment consequences that followed, not only did they continue to choose Switzerland as their place of production, but they created more jobs than the previous year.

The American company Tiffin metall – which makes the logistics systems – arrived in Schmitten in Friborg last year. Here it opened its first branch outside the United States, stimulated by the fact that “the workforce here is very qualified and efficient. And the taxes are favorable for us.”

The choice of American society is not an isolated one. According to data published today by SECO and the Cantonal Managers Conference on the General Economy, 220 foreign companies settled in Switzerland last year. The number decreased slightly compared to 2019, but it allowed the creation of 1,168 jobs, an increase of 11% over 2019. Then these companies – Chinese and American, above all – plan to employ more than 3,500 people in the next three years.

“In a year of crisis, certainty about long-term planning ability and workplace security becomes the most important aspect. These factors are in Switzerland’s favor.”

So the union remains a magnet. Not only for the low tax rate, but also for managing the epidemic, according to cantonal economics managers. “We are a stable, reliable country that guarantees legal certainty. It has also been observed that the population supports these measures and that we have rewarded individual responsibility and freedom more than other countries.”

Switzerland was one of the few countries in the world where foreign direct investment increased in the year of the pandemic. One reason – and this one too – is to look to the future with confidence.