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Economists predict rapid recovery in Switzerland — if pandemic measures work

The hardest hit areas of Swiss economy, such as the tourism and export sectors, are expected to rebound this year – on the basis of one important condition.

Published: 11 March 2021 12:47 CET
Economists predict rapid recovery in Switzerland — if pandemic measures work
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Switzerland’s economy will “recover quickly” with the easing of coronavirus restrictions and vaccinations, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on Thursday. 

“This forecast is based on the expectation that the planned easing of measures from spring 2021 onwards will largely be implemented as intended, and that any tightening of virus containment measures involving significant economic impacts will no longer be necessary”, SECO noted.

The group still expects Switzerland’s GDP to decline sharply n the period between January and March 2021. “However, we should not witness a decline of the same magnitude as that which occurred last spring.”

“Particularly vulnerable areas of the economy, such as international tourism, should also gradually find their way out of the current crisis”, SECO added.

Its group of experts predicts an above-average growth in GDP of 3.3 percent, adjusted for sporting events . Global economy has also improved since the December 2020  forecast (3.1percent ), “which will also benefit the Swiss export sector”.

“Employment too is expected to rise considerably as the economy recovers, and unemployment is set to fall to an annual average of 3 percent”.

However, SECO noted that if mutated viruses weaken the effectiveness of existing vaccines, the economy might not recover until 2022.  

The recovery would be also be delayed if further restrictions “were to be introduced domestically and by key trade partners, for example due to backlogs in the coronavirus vaccination programmes”, SECO noted.

Another recent study found that the Swiss economic outlook is more positive than previously predicted, despite the pandemic. 

“The downward trend since the interim high during the pandemic in September 2020 has come to an end, at least for the time being. For the next few months, the economic barometer signals a somewhat more lively economic activity”, according to the Swiss Economic Institute.

READ MORE: Why Switzerland’s economy is on the up despite the coronavirus pandemic

However, unemployment remains high.

Recent figures show that the pandemic-related economic slump has significantly increased the number of job seekers in Switzerland, especially in restaurant and hotel sector, as well as construction and manufacturing and service industry. 

The loss of jobs in these and other sectors have caused “an unprecedented crisis” in Switzerland’s labour market, economists said.

READ MORE: ‘Unprecedented crisis’: New figures show stark impact of pandemic on all Swiss job sectors

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CRIME

‘Fake ads’: How to avoid the latest job scam in Switzerland

Online scams are widespread in all areas of life, including, increasingly, among Swiss job adverts.

Published: 6 August 2024 13:24 CEST
'Fake ads': How to avoid the latest job scam in Switzerland

With the chronic shortage of qualified workers, many Swiss employers are actively looking to hire new staff.

They advertise vacant positions online, opening the door to scammers to post fake job adverts of their own.

Increasingly, scammers are disguising themselves as legitimate employers to obtain sensitive personal information from job seekers.

“Around a quarter of all job offers are fakes,” said Jean-Philippe Spinas, director at Kienbaum Executive Search in Zurich recruitment consultancy.

Specifically, scammers pretend to be HR managers and publish fake job offers in order to obtain sensitive personal and financial information about people who send in their applications.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between real and fake offers,” Spinas added.

What are the scammers looking for?

As any legitimate employer does, fraudsters also ask candidates to send in the curriculum vitae (CV), which normally contains a lot of personal data that scammers are after: telephone number, email address, date of birth, and address. This information is then used to deduce passwords or to create a digital profile.

In the ‘best’ case, you will have to put up with unwanted calls, spam, or other contact attempts.

But under the worst-cast scenario, fraudsters will steal your identity and pretend to be you when setting up telecom and other accounts, because when contacted by phone, you are usually only asked for your date of birth, mobile number, or similar information to identify yourself — all of which scammers have obtained from your CV.

How can you protect yourself?

The key word here is ‘vigilance’.

Identity check

Just as employers vet candidates, you too should ‘screen’ the interviewer.

Your first red flag should go up if the ‘employer’ doesn’t identify him / herself or the company clearly, allowing you to verify their legitimacy.

“Ideally, the job offerer should identify themselves to the candidate,” Jean-Philippe Spinas pointed out.

If they give only minimal information about themselves, or are dodgy in their answers, ask the ‘employer’ to contact you via Linkedin. The platform can be used to determine whether the company, and the recruiter, are real.

Don’t disclose too much

“In the age of online applications on the most diverse platforms, you should always ask yourself: how much data will I reveal during my first contact with the employer?” Spinas said.

If a lot of private information is requested from candidates online, this should arouse suspicion.

For that reason, you should not send your CV, which contains personal details — including, typically, a photograph that can then be copied and used for illicit purposes — to unidentified / unverified employers.

READ ALSO: How to write the perfect CV for a job in Switzerland 

This is the latest employment scam that is widespread in Switzerland right now.

But ‘older’ ones are still circulating around the country.

For instance, the scammers are contacting their victims via messaging services such as Whatsapp and Telegram, presenting themselves as job recruiters who seek people in Switzerland who can work from home.

So far it sounds legitimate, except that “candidates are lured by promises of extraordinary earnings that are disproportionately high relative to the nature of the tasks to be performed,” according to the the National Centre for Cybersecurity (NCSC), which monitors faudulent activities online.

Problems begin after recruitment, when candidates are directed to a platform where they must register to obtain assignments. “It is an imitation of a legitimate website,” explains the federal authority.

All salary and bonus payments must be settled via this fake platform and recruited workers must pay most of the fees themselves.

You can find out about this, and other scams perpetrated in Switzerland, here.

And this article also provides valuable information about how not to fall victim to various scams:

READ ALSO: How to avoid the most common online scams in Switzerland 

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